Fred Lum/The Globe and Mail
In 2017, as debate continued to swirl about Syrian refugee resettlement, Husam and Shahnaz al-Soufi launched Soufi’s, which served Syrian street food specialties. They employed refugees who literally wore their culture on their sleeves: their signature yellow shirts were emblazoned with the motto “From Syria with Love.”For its efforts, the local community and even the New York Times held the restaurant up as a testament to Canada’s embrace of immigration and multiculturalism.
Those threats began after a widely shared video showed their son Alaa al-Soufi protesting a People’s Party of Canada event in Hamilton, wearing a face mask as he stood among people shouting and blocking the path of an elderly woman and her husband trying to attend. The al-Soufis issued an apology, and acknowledged that he should have handled it differently.
But we shouldn’t kid ourselves. Canada is not immune – and much like the spread of Trumpism, anti-migrant rhetoric and sentiment is on the rise in our political discourse.The seeds of this sentiment have always been present here. Just ask the Indigenous peoples of this land, the racialized people disproportionately incarcerated in our jails and the traumatized families of victims of 2017′s mosque shooting in Quebec City.
As a food journalist, I have seen immigrants use food as a safe harbour. Food is a language that bridges the gap between them and their host countries, and they open restaurants to showcase their culture in ways that reassure society that they are here to serve the community and be industrious in apolitical ways.
GlobeDebate There's a major double standard regarding negative media treatment of what it casually labels 'far right' (really just conservative and nowhere near Nazi) and its whitewashing of these dangerous extreme left cretins of Antifa
GlobeDebate If this restaurant was a success, let’s see bottom line of financial statements.
GlobeDebate Enough with this already.
GlobeDebate Speaking of double standards....
GlobeDebate Double standard as if in these people were white no one would give a sh!t if they closed their restaurant right?
GlobeDebate The problem is not what you say. It is the practice of doxxing which the left, including antifa, have perfected. Making it about xenophobia or racism is incorrect and only makes the real problem worse.
GlobeDebate the restaurant deserves compensation for being forced to close and lose sales due to nazi harassment is anything planned? haven’t seen ANYWHERE to donate? shameful
GlobeDebate Ya that poor bully who is on video over and over again being a violent leftist. Yup, we all should feel bad for that guy. Pffffft
GlobeDebate What about those who protest chic fill A and are trying to put them out of business?
GlobeDebate So you're going to ignore completely that their son, who also works at the restaurant, is an antifa member that harasses elderly women?
GlobeDebate One problem with this story. You are leaving out the part that they had not lived in Syria for over ten years before coming to Canada and where well off and owned an expensive beach resort. Their refugee claim is fraudulent and should be investigated.
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