Syrian refugee family celebrates 5th anniversary of arrival in northern B.C.

On Friday, Rose Tohme and her family celebrated their fifth anniversary arriving in the northern B.C. city of Prince George after a long journey fleeing Syria’s civil war.

Tohme, her husband Nael and their four children left Latakia — a Syrian port city on the Mediterranean — in 2012. They made their way to Lebanon before being sponsored by a church in northern B.C. to come to Canada.

On Jan. 8, 2016, at 1 a.m., the Tohmes became the first Syrian refugees to arrive in northern B.C., landing in the Prince George airport after flying from Lebanon via Jordan and Toronto.