The image of Alan Kurdi lying face-down on a beach near the fashionable Turkish resort of Bodrum became a shocking symbol of the plight of refugees.The Associated Press
The photo of the body of a two-year-old Syrian boy, who drowned during his family’s tragic quest for a new life, led to an outpouring of grief around the world when it was published 10 years ago on Tuesday.
The image of Alan Kurdi lying face down on a beach near the fashionable Turkish resort of Bodrum became a shocking symbol of the plight of refugees, awakening the world to the dangers desperate people were willing to confront to find sanctuary.
“The photo of Alan Kurdi’s small, lifeless body on a beach made Canadians weep and open their wallets and their homes to Syrian refugees in the tens of thousands,” said Fen Osler Hampson, a professor at Carleton University who serves as president of the World Refugee and Migration Council.
But, he said, “the empathy Canadians showed then, some 10 years ago, has not proven to be a sustainable resource.”
Nearly a decade after the Syrian refugee crisis began, Canada remains transformed by its response
“Today, [Alan’s] memory tugs more on our conscience than on our evolving legal system, which is increasingly directed at rationing refuge and asylum as opposed to giving it out freely and with the generosity Canadians were once known for.”
The toddler’s family had boarded an overloaded inflatable boat bound for Greece that capsized only minutes after leaving the Turkish shore. Alan, along with his brother, Galib, and their mother, Rehana, were among those who drowned.
Aunt Tima Kurdi's application filed in Canada for refugee sponsorship had been rejected.BEN STANSALL/AFP/Getty Images
The family had fled Syria’s civil war and the encroachment of the Islamic State and had been hoping to join their relatives in Vancouver. But the application that the boys’ aunt Tima Kurdi filed in Canada for refugee sponsorship had been rejected by Ottawa’s Immigration Department.
As the Islamic State attacked their hometown of Kobani, Alan’s family fled to Turkey, where on Sept. 2, 2015, they made the fateful decision to board a dinghy in the Mediterranean to try to get to the Greek island of Kos.
The inflatable boat, which was designed for no more than eight people but was carrying 16, capsized about five minutes after leaving the shore.
The photo of the toddler’s body on the beach, in a red T-shirt and blue shorts, taken by Turkish journalist Nilufer Demir, prompted politicians worldwide to respond, not least in Canada, where it forced candidates in the general election campaign taking place to confront the issue.
Stephen Harper, then prime minister, cancelled a photo opportunity and commented on the heart-rending image at a Conservative Party campaign event.
Chris Alexander, who was immigration minister at the time, suspended his campaigning to investigate why the application by Alan’s aunt for refugee status for the family had been rejected by his department.
“This is something that goes beyond politics,” then-Liberal leader Justin Trudeau said after viewing the photo.
Photographs of brothers Alan and Galib Kurdi and their mother Rehana outside the home of their aunt Tima Kurdi, in Coquitlam, B.C., September, 2015.The Canadian Press
After winning the 2015 election, Mr. Trudeau announced a plan to welcome 25,000 Syrian refugees, millions of whom had fled the civil war and the Islamic State that had seized parts of the country.
Gauri Sreenivasan, co-executive director of the Canadian Council for Refugees, said this weekend that the image of Alan Kurdi “stopped the hearts of the world – even though he was one of millions.”
“Somehow, out of the tragedy of his death, and that image, hearts reactivated all over the world,” she said, galvanizing people and nations to help.
“He had family in Canada, and ultimately his aunt was hoping that they would come here. So, it had a special impact on Canada. Canada did respond … and the government at the time distinguished itself by indicating our openness to refugees,” she said.
Earlier: Tima Kurdi on her family’s voyage through tragedy and hope
Ten years on, the plight of millions of displaced people from Syria and other war-torn states, such as Sudan, is no less acute, Ms. Sreenivasan said. But openness to accepting them, including in Canada, has been tempered.
Since Alan’s photo magnified the risks taken by people fleeing conflict, many thousands of people have lost their lives crossing on small boats to Europe.
The Missing Migrants Project, which since 2014 has been tracking the tragedy of people dying while trying to reach an international destination, says the number of those attempting to cross the Mediterranean to Europe, who include refugees from African countries and the Middle East, has risen.
It found that nearly 60 per cent of deaths documented during migration are linked to drowning. In the Mediterranean Sea, at least 3,105 lives were lost in 2023, compared with 2,411 recorded in 2022.
Last month, a boat carrying nearly 100 migrants capsized in international waters off the Italian island of Lampedusa, killing at least 26 people and leaving about a dozen missing, according to the Italian coast guard and UN agencies.
The Missing Migrants Project found that nearly 60 per cent of deaths documented during migration are linked to drowning.Hannah McKay/Reuters
In the first half of the year, the number of people crossing the English Channel to Britain in small boats increased by 48 per cent over last year. Nearly 20,000 people arrived in small boats between January and the end of June.
The rise in crossings has fuelled an upsurge in support for Nigel Farage’s populist right-wing Reform UK party, which says it would bar anyone who came to Britain on a small boat from claiming asylum.
In Europe, including Germany, support for right-wing parties with an anti-migrant position has also risen.
In Canada, in the face of pressure on housing and other services, Ottawa has announced plans to curb the number of temporary and permanent residents, but it is not capping the number of asylum claims.
Border bill would create ‘in limbo’ foreign residents, refugee groups say
Nevertheless, Ms. Sreenivasan said the federal government seems less keen than it was in the past to roll out the welcome mat, even though “the number of those fleeing persecution and danger is actually at an all-time high.”
She said that, in Canada, “the current numbers being resettled and the overall signals and policy tone from the current government is absolutely trending in the wrong direction.”
In last year’s targets for the number of immigrants Canada plans to accept over the next three years, Ottawa froze the number of government-assisted refugees it would take in and cut its targets for the number of refugees who could be sponsored by Canadians to come here, she said.
The government’s Strong Borders bill would also make it harder to claim asylum. If passed, it would bar people who have been in Canada for more than a year from an asylum hearing and prevent those who crossed into Canada from the United States illegally from making a claim. (They can currently do so if they have been here for more than 14 days.)
Ms. Sreenivasan said the 10th anniversary of Alan Kurdi’s death is “an important time to reflect.”
“We are proud to be a country that welcomes newcomers, and we expect our leaders to carry on that legacy.”
With a report from Reuters