Community Members: Family and Fort Nelson

community members: They were the first Syrian refugees to be sponsored in Fort Nelson, B.C., a small oil and gas town near the Yukon border, according to CBC. Despite being in the midst of an extended economic downturn, community members had spent the previous two years fundraising to sponsor a family who would be suited to life in northeast B.C. The Sharkiye family celebrating their first Christmas in Fort Nelson. Isam Sharkiye, 35, and his family arrived in Canada in August. Sandy McLean Because Fort Nelson's remote we needed a family with few medical issues, so it was really just luck or fate or divine intervention that brought this family and us together, said Sandy McLean, one of the community members helping the Sharkiyes get settled. One community member donated a piece of copper, and Sharkiye created his first work in Canada. Shortly after arriving, Isam Sharkiye started collecting equipment from scrap yards. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.