QUEBEC CITY - A well-known personality in Colombia, he fled to Canada to stay alive. Uprooted, new to the French language, he lived in precariousness in Quebec City, drawing strength to live from his family and his faith. Now he is in charge of the Latino community of the Archdiocese of Quebec.

BEIRUT - While the flow of migrants into Europe and the West has sparked controversy, Lebanon continues to bear the brunt of absorbing massive numbers of refugees. A commonly cited figure is that one in four people in Lebanon is displaced from Syria.

As thousands of Syrian refugees land in Toronto and Montreal, Catholic settlement agencies are asking governments for money and programs to help our newest neighbours build successful lives in Canada.

AMMAN, Jordan - As a cautious world rang in the New Year with concerns over terrorism and security, Catholics in Canada were continuing to welcome Syrian refugees to their newly adopted homeland.

The easy way to look back on 2015, or any year of news, is to list off all the bombings, shootings, riots, droughts, hurricanes, floods and famines. We can always find a parade of disaster.

Newspapers typically select a “person of the year” based on noble deeds or towering accomplishments. The world certainly abounds with such people, but rather than acclaim one of these for 2015 we instead commemorate Alan Kurdi.

TORONTO - A 13-hour flight to Toronto was nothing after three years spent living as refugees in Amman, Jordan, as an Armenian Orthodox family from Aleppo, Syria, launched its Canadian odyssey.

TORONTO - Syria’s civil war has seen families pulling their children out of school as they escape the growing violence and persecution in the area. Many have not been back to school since the war started in 2012.

Among the first planeload of Syrian refugees to land at Toronto Pearson International Airport around 9 p.m. Dec. 10, at least one family has made it to Canada thanks to Catholic refugee sponsorship.

OTTAWA - In addition to bringing 25,000 Syrian refugees to Canada and contributing to COP21 climate change talks in Paris, the new Liberal government of Justin Trudeau is forging ahead on an ambitious agenda regarding First Nations

The federal government has rewritten its timeline to bring 25,000 refugees to Canada this year and acknowledges that to resettle them here by the end of February is an enormous challenge.

Another $100 million in federal government aid to Syrian refugees fleeing their nation’s civil war brings Canada’s spending on the refugee crisis so far to nearly $1 billion. But a dollar-for-dollar matching fund open until Dec. 31 with approved charities is certain to push Canada’s aid to the region well past that mark.

THORNHILL, ONT. - Every day Rami Kaai receives at least 50 phone calls from Christian refugees in the Middle East who plead for his help in coming to Canada.

BEIRUT - The three Iraqi retirees met up at St. Anthony's medical dispensary to get medication for hypertension, an ailment exacerbated by the stress of life as a refugee.

ROME - Some anti-immigrant and conservative leaders in both Europe and the United States say refugees arriving from Syria should be considered potential terrorists, and some suggest that requests for asylum should be vetted on the basis of religion.