The leader of the Green Party of Canada, Elizabeth May, presented US President Joe Biden with a piece of chocolate made by a Syrian refugee family during his visit to Ottawa last Friday.
The Canadian website “Toronto Star” stated that this small gesture “represents another milestone in the family of Syrian refugee Tariq Haddad’s beautiful success story that has been covered in international media and turned into a feature film”.
Haddad, who was in Ottawa during Biden’s visit, said he was unaware that May would offer the US President and his family the chocolate he made himself.
“A truly proud moment for our family and the people of Antigonish,” Haddad, the company’s founder and CEO, said in a tweet on Twitter.
Haddad also said he hopes the US president and his wife will reflect on their family’s story as refugees and the impact of the kindness Canadian residents offer by “giving us a second chance after the world closes its borders”.
A spokesperson for May said: “The Green Party leader bought chocolate specifically for Biden last week when Biden was at an event in the New South state of Antigonish.
In 2012 Haddad and his family were forced to flee Syria, and decades-old chocolate factories in Damascus were bombed and destroyed.
Haddad and his family lived in a refugee camp in Lebanon for nearly three years before coming to Canada and settling in Antigonish in 2015.
A year later, Haddad decided to re-establish his company and they named it “Peace in Chocolate”. It started with a single type of chocolate made in their home kitchen and sold at the local farmer’s market. They have chocolate products that combine over 250 Syrian and Canadian flavors.
