The end of a Palestinian family’s journey — first forced by war into Syria, and then pushed by war to a Lebanese refugee camp — is a grey three-bedroom house Mohamad Mawed rents in north Edmonton.

Reminders of Syria are close: down the road is the baklava-packed Paradiso Pastries, and a few blocks further, the Al-Rashid Mosque.

But inside the house are the six people Mawed has fought for a year to get from Syria to Canada: his brother, Ahmad, Ahmad’s wife, Hayat, and their four children.

And to do so Mawed, who came to Canada in early 2014, after leaving a job in the United Arab Emirates, has had the help of a unique, interfaith partnership between the Islamic Family and Social Services Association and the Mennonite community in Alberta.

“I tried to find some solution for them,” Mawed said Thursday, describing his push to get Ahmad and his family out of a precarious situation in Lebanon, where they fled to three years ago from Damascus.

Tomorrow, Mawed said, he’s filing paperwork to try to bring another group of relatives, 17 in total, to Canada.

“My hope is Canada will be more supportive,” he said. “If the process moved more quick, they will help more people.”

The connection between the Mennonite and Muslim community in Alberta has been building for years, explained Suzanne Gross, a manager at the Edmonton Mennonite Centre for Newcomers.

Gross said when the Syrian refugee crisis exploded, the linkages allowed the Mennonite communities in Edmonton and Calgary to help their Muslim friends directly rather than from the sidelines.

The main barrier for non-Syrian Canadians to help, she explained, is the Canadian government's requirement Syrian refugees be sponsored by family or friends to move here.

Thanks to the established links, though, Syrian families were found in Edmonton and families and friends needing refuge from Syria were put on the list.

The results are striking. In Edmonton, 36 people from Syria have come since the early spring, and 150 more are expected by the end of the year, Gross said. 

And, across Alberta, there have been 268 refugee cases filed through this partnership, and there are 400 new cases coming in the near future, said Orlando Vasquez, program director for the Mennonite Central Committee, based in Calgary.

Donna Entz, with the Mennonite Church of Alberta, said the linkage is about humanity, and touches all involved.

“The first family that came, there was a party afterward, and the host family asked, ‘Why are you doing this?’, Entz said.

“We explained – to build bridges and create a peaceful world.

“There’s no pushback in terms of distrust, it’s more just trying to understand the motivation.”

-With files from Aaron Chatha