Yerevan/Mediamax/. During a campaign stop on August 10 at St. Mark's Coptic Church in Markham, near Toronto, Prime Minister Harper privately met a newly-arrived Syrian-Armenian refugee family.

Armenian Canadian Conservative Association told Mediamax that the PM has talked to Syrian Armenian Leon (Levon) Danayan, his wife Mayda Moumjian and children Benjamin and Rachel who moved to Canada in June 2015.

During his meeting with Canada's Prime Minister, Danayan presented a giant thank-you card to the PM on behalf of some 100 Syrian- and Iraqi-Armenian refugees who expressed their "heartfelt gratitude" to the Prime Minister and "the Canadian government's private sponsorship program."  

Following the meeting, the PM stated that a re-elected Conservative government will provide a new three-year, USD9-million program to support persecuted religious minorities in the Middle East. Harper’s plan includes continued assistance to Iraqi and Syrian refugee who continue to face religious persecution and genocide.

The plan includes a commitment to accept an additional 10,000 refugees from the region over the next four years.

“Strong democratic societies, such as Canada, respect religious diversity. Re-elected government will continue backing freedom of religion and defending religious minorities considering it one of the cornerstones of Canada’s foreign policy”, said the PM.