Tima Kurdi welcomes her family to Metro Vancouver

Tima Kurdi said the entire family of seven will join her family of three in their Vancouver home, CTV News reported.

When Aylan Kurdi’s lifeless body was photographed washed up on a Turkish beach – it sparked global concern over the Syrian refugee crisis.

There were tears and cheers of “Thank you Canada” as the uncle, aunt and five cousins of the Syrian toddler whose photo galvanized the world arrived at Vancouver airport at around noon on Monday.

The Canadian government previously stated that it aims to welcome 25,000 Syrian refugees to the country by the end of February.

Alan, 3, drowned, along with his mother, Rehenna, and older brother Ghalib, 4, when their boat capsized off the coast of Turkey en route to Greece.

Mohammed Kurdi, his wife and children will stay with Tima and her family in British Columbia for now.

Mohammed’s original refugee application was rejected by the previous Tory government because of what officials called a lack of necessary documentation.

The Kurdi family had fled from their hometown of Kobane in Syria, and were trying to leave Turkey to go to Canada. Before flying to Canada, the family will reunite in Frankfurt, where he’ll meet his fifth and youngest child for the first time.

Tima Kurdi says her brother, a barber, will work at her newly established hair salon.

On behalf of her brother (and Alan’s father) Abdullah, who has chosen not to come to Canada, she thanked the Turkish government and the Kurdistan government in the autonomous region of Iraq, where he is now living.

She also thanked MLA Selina Robinson and Coquitlam Mayor Richard Stewart for their support.

In the wake of the tragedy last September, Tima Kurdi has distinguished herself by frequently speaking out for more humanity for Syrian refugees. “They’re like every single one of us in the West”, Kurdi says, her fingers playing anxiously with the tissue she holds in her lap.

“I was holding my wife’s hand”, Kurdi told Turkey’s Dogan news agency.

“There’s always a light at the end of the tunnel… keep walking until you find that light”.

Abdullah Kurdi issued a Christmas Day message to the United Kingdom, asking that they open their doors to Syria. An aunt was stuck in Istanbul, nursing a baby, as her son & daughter worked 18-hour shifts in a sweatshop so the family might eat.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said her country would take in hundreds of thousands of refugees annually for years ahead. We’d like to hear from you about this or any other stories you think we should know about.