MONTREAL—When Syrian refugee Garouj Nazarian is asked how he likes working for his boss, the answer comes in choppy English—but the sentiment shines through.
“So much good,” he says with a big smile, offering a thumbs-up to emphasize his joy.
Nazarian, who’s been in Canada for about a year, has been working for six months at a Montreal plywood factory owned by Levon Afeyan, who fled Lebanon’s civil war with his parents and two brothers in 1975.
“I like working here very well,” Nazarian says in English before finishing his answer— “to take care of my family”—in Armenian.
Nazarian is one of 12 Syrian refugees among 80 employees at the factory, and Afeyan intends to hire more as Canada opens its borders to thousands of people fleeing the Assad regime and ISIS.
Afeyan says one of the most difficult things for the Syrian refugees he employs is to accept that their move to Canada is likely a permanent one.
“They haven’t grasped that yet,” he says. “It takes time for a man to accept the fact that, well, this is it. I’ve lost (everything).”
Afeyan is the boss, but he’s also a pseudo-social worker, overseeing a factory where immigrants from conflict zones around the world earn money for their families but also learn life skills and are paid to take French lessons.
His business, Seatply Products Inc., makes curved plywood used in chairs throughout North America. The employees press plywood and glue veneers to create colourful combinations. They also cut and drill the wood with robotic machines and, while most of the production doesn’t require an advanced skill set, it’s work.
