For as long as he remains in Canada, Syrian refugee Mazen Khalaf will do "anything he can to repay this wonderful country."

As he and his wife, Dina Al Sayed and three sons, Mohamad, 13, and twins Yousef and Ibrahim, 9, sit in a spacious heritage home in the Village of Thornhill, it's a far cry from the bombing the family endured in Homs, Syria, or the four years they spent living in a small tent in a refugee camp in Tripoli, Lebanon.

Since the family arrived at Pearson International Airport earlier this month, they've celebrated the warm embrace of a Canadian welcome in their new homeland.

"It's my dream," Mazen says through a smartphone Arabic-English translator. He speaks a bit of English, but is more comfortable conducting an interview with the help of a translator.

He tells a harrowing tale of five years of pain and suffering leading up to the family's arrival hear weeks ago.

It all started in 2012 when, while working as a salesman in Homs, Syria, hostilities broke out in the Middle East nation.

"Anybody who wanted freedom, the government (of Bashar al-Assad) tried to kill them. I protested and went into the street," Mazen said.

His home was one of many in Homs bombed by government forces, one of his twin sons, Yousef, suffering chest and head injuries.

He said for a year the city was surrounded by government troops with no one allowed to leave or come in and food was very scarce.

Finally, in 2013, the family escaped, traversing 50 kilometres by foot over dusty roads to Tripoli — Lebanon's second-largest city after Beirut. Mazen and his wife, Dina, carried 5-year-old twins Yousef and Ibrahim the whole way while 9-year-old Mohamad walked alongside.