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A new documents the memories of 13 children from Syria who arrived in Canada as refugees. 

The video is an outcome of a research project called Syrian Refugee Children鈥檚 Narratives of Experience, led by Mehrunnisa Ali, a professor in the School of Early Childhood Studies. The project engaged the children in creating autobiographies based on memories of their lives in Syria, a transit country and Canada.  

Interviews and focus group discussions were led by Gina Jibran and visual data were recorded by Nancy Chahine, both alumni of the Early Childhood Studies graduate program. Cyrus Sundar Singh, a filmmaker from the doctoral program in Communication and Culture, helped to create the video documentary.  

鈥淲hen the war started in Syria, we ran to other countries,鈥� a child鈥檚 voice states, as the video starts. 鈥淧eople always ask grown ups about what happened, but no one asks children,鈥� it goes on. 鈥淏ut Mehru, Gina and Nancy asked thirteen of us, what we remembered about Syria, the countries we ran to and our early days in Canada.鈥�   

What follows is a compilation of children documenting their memories in drawings, words, gestures, and facial expressions, as well as clips of children sharing their memories with each other and the researchers.   

鈥淚 remember from Syria that my family and me, we had a lovely house,鈥� a boy named Musaab says, as a colourful drawing of a house fills the screen. 鈥淪yria was once a beautiful country and life, and then it became ugly,鈥� Jibran reads from a child鈥檚 autobiography.  

鈥淭here was a gun, and they were shooting, and my mom ... it just hit her hand,鈥� a girl named Shahed says, describing how her mother was shot during the violence in Syria. 鈥淭he first day of school, I just went one day to school, because the war started and they started shooting,鈥� a boy named Ahmad explains.  

鈥淲e sold our old stuff to buy the passports,鈥� says a boy named Mohammad, on his family鈥檚 plans to escape the violence. 鈥淎nd then we ran away to Jordan,鈥� a voiceover explains. 鈥淭he school in Jordan was so bad, because if you came late, they hit you with a ruler,鈥� explains a boy, as an animated version of his drawing illustrates his point. In Jordan, 鈥渢he government did not allow Syrian people to work, so they used to work in secret,鈥� says another boy.

鈥淏ut one day, my dad came to me and said, we need to go in Canada,鈥� a girl says, as her  illustration of a plane fills the screen. 鈥淐anada is safer than Jordan, because Jordan they don鈥檛 care about you,鈥� says another girl. 鈥淚 like Morningside park,鈥� Jibran reads from Ahmed鈥檚 autobiography, prompting him to explain. 鈥淲e mostly go to it ... and we do barbeque and we eat,鈥� he says.

The lead researcher, Ali, created this film in order to 鈥渟ee and hear children better, especially those we know very little about.鈥�  

鈥淔or too long, [children] have been thought of as persons in making -- who don鈥檛 necessarily need to be treated as individuals with their opinions, ideas, thoughts and memories,鈥� she says. 鈥淚 thought that it鈥檚 really important to capture their stories, especially because these stories will get lost if we don鈥檛 capture them now. Memories fade.鈥�

The video highlights the multidimensionality of Syrian refugee children, who are often stereotyped as victims in Western media. 鈥淭hat kind of stereotyping not only diminishes their humanity,鈥� Ali says, 鈥渋t is simply wrong to reduce any individual or any group to one stereotypical dimension.鈥�

鈥淭hey have so many different dimensions,鈥� Ali continues. 鈥淭hey are funny, they are wicked, they are thoughtful, they have experienced bad things, but they are also tremendously resilient 鈥� their lives are rich and multidimensional,鈥� she says.  

Research projects involving children are scarce, and Ali thinks that needs to change. 鈥淲ith processes of ethics approval, it is difficult to get access to children,鈥� she explains. 鈥淲e have to go through their parents, we may have to go through other gatekeepers 鈥� with refugees it鈥檚 even more complicated. So we just avoid talking to children because it鈥檚 much harder.鈥�

鈥淲e as adult researchers need to approach research with children with a lot of humility and with an open mind,鈥� she says. 鈥淲e simply need to do much more research with children 鈥� If we don鈥檛 do it, we continue to paint them with a single brush, which diminishes them and reduces our ability to appropriately support them.鈥�

This research project was funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, the Child and Youth Refugee Research Coalition and the Faculty of Community Services, Ryerson University