Welcome, Syrian refugees.
Welcome to Prince George, one of the finest places to live in Canada, one of the best countries to live in the world.
Prince George has many amenities you will appreciate but you will not fall in love with those features because most of the same features can be found in most other cities, large and small, in Canada and throughout much of the world.
What you will grow to love are the people of Prince George.
The Westwood Church, the other churches and the social groups, such as the Immigrant and Multicultural Services Society, who worked tirelessly to bring you here will not stop working for you after showing you to the place where you will eat and sleep.
They will continue their efforts to help you feel safe, prosper and become part of the community, beyond the four walls of your accommodations. They will help you but not outright do it for you because Prince George residents prefer to train people how to fish for themselves, instead of just giving them fish.
That being said, the people behind these groups and, by extension, the entire community wants you to succeed and will go to great lengths to help you.
Success for us is that you feel at peace, you feel like you belong, you tell everyone you know, wherever they live, how great Prince George is and you make your own contributions to make Prince George even better.
Our motto is "the volunteer city - it's in our nature."
That means we are a city where people work together, giving their time to make things happen, over and above what they give to their employers, because it's the right thing to do. For you to fall in love with Prince George means you will also give your time and expertise, shoulder to shoulder with us.
When you do so, you will find the love is mutual. Prince George and its people will love you, not for your money or your looks or your nice car or your big house.
They will love you because you care and you don't just say you care, you show you care with your hands, your brain and your time in the service of your neighbours and your community. Prince George is not perfect but no place is. You will not be free of prejudice or ignorance or pettiness but there is no place on Earth free of those diseases.
Some people will judge you for your name, your appearance, your accent and your religion.
Fortunately, they are few and forgive them for their rudeness. It is only good fortune that allowed them to be born in this country and they feel that birth automatically entitles them to a lifetime of its benefits. They are spoiled and cannot imagine what you have endured. They have no concept what it would mean to flee from endless war, to be separated from home and country.
You have learned how fragile peace and prosperity are. Most of us have not, so please be patient with those of us who choose not to understand.
The rest of us want to know you, want to work with you, want to learn from you and hear your stories. We want you to know us, work with us, learn from us and hear our stories. We want you to be part of our family and we want to be part of yours.
You will find most Prince George residents are not from here. Most of us came from elsewhere and stayed because we fell in love with the people and became part of this family. Even those of us who have lived most or all of their lives in Prince George spent time away, spreading our wings before eventually returning to the nest.
The winters can be dark and cold, the spring brown and muddy, the summer plagued by mosquitos and caterpillars, the autumn rainy and unpredictable.
The vastness of this country may overwhelm you - Syria could fit into British Columbia more than five times. It is roughly the same time and distance to drive from Prince George to Vancouver as it would be to drive from Damascus to Baghdad, crossing most of both Syria and Iraq on your journey.
Your days ahead will be full of challenges and discoveries.
Through them all, you will see that you have acquired a new family, of friends, neighbours, acquaintances and perfect strangers who care about you and want your coming months and years in Prince George to be happy and productive.
Welcome, friends, to Prince George.
Welcome home.
