Mr. Speaker, 10 years of war in Syria have resulted in 400,000 dead, more than six million refugees, tens of thousands of detained or missing prisoners and 12 million people facing starvation.
This humanitarian disaster has given rise to a groundswell of solidarity in Quebec. In my riding, the people of the municipality of L'Assomption came together to help a Syrian family. They welcomed the Ishtai family and provided them with concrete support throughout their integration process.
It is hard for me to describe how I felt when, on February 29, 2020, Basel, Alafif, Ziaa, Bizan and Suzie opened the door at the home where they now live. There they all were, in front of me, smiling, when in 2017, these Syrian refugees were crammed into a tiny apartment in Lebanon, where they had papered the walls with phrases in French, dreaming of the day they would come and settle in Quebec.
I want to thank them for enriching Quebec with their presence. I thank them for choosing to live in French and for wanting to help us build our country.