Syrian refugees grateful for public, government response to pepper-spray attack
VANCOUVER — Ahmad Hwichan gestures to his throat and grimaces as he talks about coughing up blood and hearing children screaming in the chaotic aftermath of last week’s pepper-spray attack in Vancouver.
The newly arrived government-sponsored refugee from Syria was one of about a dozen people who were sprayed by a man on a bicycle outside a welcome ceremony around 10:30 p.m. on Friday.
Despite the suffering, the unsavoury incident has failed to temper the enthusiasm and gratitude Hwichan and other refugees feel toward their adopted country and its citizens.
“This doesn’t change my point of view of Canada. It will never change,” Hwichan said through a translator on Tuesday, four days after the attack.