For the common good

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This article was published 28/07/2018 (2930 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Although their English skills are limited, Yazidi refugees Sleman Smoqi and Adul Nimr want to share their story of religious persecution, and extend their gratitude for a new start in Winnipeg.

“Yazidis have been around for a long time and we never go around and kill people or kidnap people,” they say in Kurmanji Kurdish, and translated by their relative Faissal Naso.

“We’ve been living in those regions (in Iraq) for a long time.”

Next Friday, Aug. 3, members of the Winnipeg’s Yazidi community share their experiences of religious persecution in a short public ceremony marking the fourth anniversary of the genocide that drove them from their homes.

That anniversary is relevant to all Canadians because the genocide continues, says former Liberal MP Anita Neville, who chairs the 1 p.m. service at Epiphany Lutheran Church, 200 Dalhousie Dr.

“We’ve opened (the service) to the public because we think it’s important to acknowledge and educate about the genocide,” Neville says about the short service.

The Yazidis are a minority ethno-religious group, based primarily in Iraq, with a history stretching back nearly 7,000 years. They follow a monotheistic religion that combines practices from several religious traditions.

Over the centuries, followers of the religion have been persecuted or killed for their beliefs.

In August 2014, Islamic State militants attacked and captured the city of Sinjar and surrounding areas in northern Iraq, forcing 200,000 Yazidis to flee. About 7,000 died and 50,000 Yazidis fled up Mount Sinjar, where they were trapped without water or food. Several thousand remain in captivity.

In 2016, the United Nations and the Canadian government recognized this systematic and ongoing slaughter of the Yazidis as genocide.

Winnipeg faith and community groups joined efforts to form Operation Ezra in 2015, thought to be the only multi-faith refugee-resettlement group in North America sponsoring Yazidis.

To date, the coalition has sponsored 55 people and recently applied to bring 20 more to Canada, says Michel Aziza, chairman of the 10-person organizing committee.

“It’s great to bring people of faith together for the common good,” says Aziza, a member of the Jewish community.

That interfaith co-operation also results in connections between people of faith who have faced persecution for their beliefs, says Nafiya Naso, sister to Faissal. Their family arrived 18 years ago through a sponsorship by Pembina Mennonite Fellowship in Morden.

“We share our stories and they share their stories and there are so many similarities,” says Naso, now a settlement worker for Jewish Child and Family Service.

“Those who have experienced (persecution) first-hand or have parents who have experienced it, I find relationships are built very quickly.”

And even if a religious group hasn’t experienced discrimination, it is important to stand up for those who are, Aziza says.

“When Jews were persecuted, some people helped, (but) most people didn’t,” he says. “One of the main reasons I got involved is that I want to take action when others are (persecuted).”

Fourteen months into their new life in Winnipeg, Smoqi and Nimr are grateful for the support they received from Operation Ezra, and the opportunities for their sons to attend school and earn money. The family lives in Crescentwood, near other Yazidi families, and Smoqi tends a garden in the front yard of their duplex.

Their main message to Winnipeggers?

“They would like to live their peaceful lives here,” Faissal Naso says.

brenda@suderman.com

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