Meet the Syrian refugee who owns the biggest international grocery store in Atlantic Canada
Meet the Syrian refugee who owns the biggest international grocery store in Atlantic Canada
Behind Rafat Harb’s warm demeanour and welcoming smile is a personal history of terrible hardships.
“It was not always easy,” said Rafat.
Rafat was only a teenager when he was forced to flee the Syrian civil war. He and his family spent three years in a refugee camp in Jordan before coming to Canada in 2016.
Within two weeks after arriving in Halifax, the Syrian refugee took on a graveyard shift shovelling snow. Rafat said he was determined to invest his earnings into starting his own business.
"When we came to Canada, we couldn't find the types of groceries that we would eat in the Middle East,” Rafat explained.
A few business ventures and a pandemic later, Syriana Market in Halifax is now the largest international grocery store in Atlantic Canada. The business has even expanded to include its own line of products.
“We have the restaurant, dine-in, as well as the grocery,” Rafat said. “It’s very multicultural,”
At just 24 years old, Rafat is the oldest of eight siblings, who all became Canadian citizens in 2019.
Mohammad Harb says he is proud of all of his children and their accomplishments.
“One of my daughters is in her fourth year of dentistry at Dalhousie University,” Mohammad said. “The other is studying International Law in her third year.”
Half of the Harb family lives with muscular dystrophy. In 2017, Marwa Harb, who was just 16 years old at the time, flew to Ottawa through the Children’s Wish Foundation to personally thank Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for saving her life.
“He helped everyone,” said Marwa in an interview on CTV News at 5 in 2017. “He helped me get treatment and my surgery. He helped me a lot. He brought my life back.”
Their story has come full circle. Rafat has made it his mission to employ newcomers at his market to help them learn English while connecting with other members of their communities.
“I have over 35 years’ experience as a butcher,” said Mohammad Alzoubi, who runs the meat counter at Syriana Market. “The work is the same, it's just the communication that has changed.”
“People can come here and meet others in their community while practising English,” said Rafat.
The federal Liberals are trending downward on three key measures while Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has surpassed Prime Minister Justin Trudeau when it comes to the question of who Canadians would prefer now as their prime minister, according to Nanos Research.
A Toronto man, whose neighbours vanished eight years ago and left their home completely abandoned, said he's fed up living next door to a property that is in complete disarray.
U.S. authorities are investigating a group of people swimming toward a pod of spinner dolphins off Hawaii's Big Island. The department alleges that the swimmers were 'harassing the pod' as the dolphins were swimming away.
The Conservatives are raising concerns over the appointment of Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Dominic LeBlanc's sister-in-law as the interim federal conflict of interest and ethics commissioner. The government says there is an 'ethical screen' in place to prevent any conflict.
It's been two weeks since a major fire ripped through a heritage building in the heart of Old Montreal, killing seven people and forever altering the lives of families across the globe. For the families of those who died, the grieving process is only starting.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, in a leaked cellphone call, commiserated with a COVID-19 protester about his trial while divulging to him there was an internal dispute over how Crown prosecutors were handling COVID-19 cases.
A Toronto man, whose neighbours vanished eight years ago and left their home completely abandoned, said he's fed up living next door to a property that is in complete disarray.
A coroner has denied a request from a former Toronto police officer to explore a theory that a distraught teen he shot was committing "suicide by cop."
A 15-year-old girl shot to death in the community of Martindale early Tuesday morning, has now been identified by friends and police as Sarah Alexis Jorquera.
It's been two weeks since a major fire ripped through a heritage building in the heart of Old Montreal, killing seven people and forever altering the lives of families across the globe. For the families of those who died, the grieving process is only starting.
A young man found wounded late Wednesday night in the parking lot of a shopping centre in northeast Montreal is believed to be the victim of an earlier shooting in the same area. Montreal police (SPVM) reported Thursday morning that the 18-year-old man's life was no longer in danger.
A new regulation that comes into effect Thursday in Quebec prohibits the feeding of white-tailed deer outside of hunting season, from Dec. 1 to Aug. 31, except on l'ile d'Anticosti.
The Vatican on Thursday responded to Indigenous demands and formally repudiated the 'Doctrine of Discovery,' the theories backed by 15th-century 'papal bulls' that legitimized the colonial-era seizure of Native lands and form the basis of some property law today.
A 2021 plane crash at the Westlock Airport was caused by an "unstable visual approach" to the landing runway, a Transportation Safety Board investigator has found.
When the store manager at La Noisette Bakery arrived Thursday morning to open the small shop on Oxford Street, she discovered that one of the two large circular windows at the side of their building was shattered.
A judge has acquitted a now-retired priest of forcing himself on a residential school student more than 50 years ago, saying she believes an assault happened but could not determine beyond a reasonable doubt who did it.
A bylaw officer in Manitoba is facing fraud charges for allegedly keeping the surrender fees when people gave up their pets, according to the Brandon Police Service.
Candice Bergen has signed on to co-chair the Manitoba Progressive Conservative election campaign, weeks after resigning her seat in the House of Commons.
Parents had their say at a Vimy Ridge Public School town hall as the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board addressed concerns around harassment and bullying.
A Saskatoon murder trial is being adjourned to allow police to follow-up on "significant information" that just came to the Crown prosecutor's attention Wednesday.
CTV News has learned a dog that attacked a five-year-old boy last week had been declared dangerous in February 2022, but the city had lost track of the owner a year ago.
The Riverview Hospital itself has been closed for more than a decade, but 289 people are currently receiving treatment for mental health, addictions or both at the old site.
The Vatican on Thursday responded to Indigenous demands and formally repudiated the 'Doctrine of Discovery,' the theories backed by 15th-century 'papal bulls' that legitimized the colonial-era seizure of Native lands and form the basis of some property law today.
