Canada

During the last few years, many Syrian people have come to Canada as refugees because of the war in Syria. They came by way of the Canadian government supported resettlement program. One of the families is Tareq Hadhad’s family.

The Hadhad Family came to Canada in 2016 from Lebanon where they lived as refugees for three years. Because they were forced to leave Syria after their chocolate factory, which was one of the best chocolate factories in the Middle East, was bombed, and they lost everything. When they arrived in Nova Scotia, Canada, they started their business again from nothing. His father, Essam Hadhad started making chocolate in a small kitchen. And they sold the chocolate in the local market in Antigonish, Nova Scotia, where they currently live. Many people there loved the idea and the product, and they supported them. They established peace through their chocolate company. And they began their success once again.

Now the company has become bigger and they have hired more people. Tareq dreams that their company will become one of the biggest chocolate companies in Canada within five years.

Prime Minister Trudeau supports Peace by Chocolate, the name of the company. He has supported this company many times and he shared their story to a forum of world leaders, diplomats and dignitaries at the UN Refugee Summit in 2016.

The Hadhad family has become famous in Canada, and there are many TV reporters, interviews, and newspaper articles about them. https://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/careers/tareq-hadhad-on-building-a-successful-business-in-canada-as-a-refugee/article37933851/

My husband, Houssam Alloum, an artist of Syria, was contacted by Tareq within the first two months of our arrival in Canada. This was also when Houssam had his first exhibition in Gananoque, Canada. Tareq had seen much of Houssam’s work and was impressed with this. A few months ago, Tareq connected with Houssam again and asked him to paint a portrait of his father, Essam.

Now Houssam is working on this painting which contains many symbols that tell about their background and their goals. The painting will be finished before the middle of November. This will be the time for the opening of their first store in Nova Scotia where the painting will be hung on one of the walls.

We are so proud of their success and their story, I hope all the best for them because they deserve that success. They faced hard times and they worked hard to rebuild their business.

Their story will inspire many families to build a business and be successful in Canada.