Syrian refugee marches beside Justin Trudeau (first PM in a pride parade) in Canadian pride parade
While Justin Trudeau was waving to the crowds and pausing for selfies as Canada’s first prime minister to march in a gay pride parade on Sunday, Bassel Mcleash was walking quietly alongside him trying to summon the courage to speak to the leader of his new country.
The 29-year-old Syrian refugee had hoped to catch a glimpse of Trudeau during the parade, and had even planned what he might say to him. “I wanted to tell him thank you, that I’m Syrian, I arrived here a month ago,” he said. Mcleash was stunned to find himself walking the entire parade route next to Trudeau. “Just the idea of attending a pride parade was a dream. To march in it was like an extreme dream,” he said. “But to march in the parade next to the prime minister – not in my wildest dreams would I ever have thought about having a day like this.”
About halfway through the parade route, Mcleash turned to Trudeau and thanked him for his government’s commitment to bringing in tens of thousands of refugees. “He told me that Canadians were the ones who asked him to take in refugees,” he said. “I literally wanted to cry. I was barely able to contain myself.”
Mcleash arrived in Toronto in late May through a programme for LGBT Syrians launched by a Toronto NGO, Rainbow Railroad. He was privately sponsored, meaning the group committed to covering expenses and helping him settle into his new life.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jul/04/syrian-refugee-marches-beside-justin-trudeau-canada-pride-parade
Nicely done, Mr. Trudeau. I wish our politicians had your courage with respect to Syrian refugees.
