Bilal Al Rasoul doesn’t even drink coffee, but his new life in Canada revolves around a coffee shop in the heart of Toronto’s diverse Kensington Market.

The Livelihood Cafe on Augusta Ave. is a home-away-from-home for the Syrian teenager and other newcomers who work at the not-for-profit social enterprise that’s staffed entirely by refugees and immigrants and aims to teach them new job skills and help them ease into Canada’s multicultural fabric.

When a recent public opinion poll found the majority of Canadians are in favour of limiting immigration and against taking in more refugees, Rasoul and his coworkers were disturbed by the findings.

“We felt so sad and disappointed because that’s not the Canada we knew,” said the 18-year-old, whose family arrived here in 2016 as part of the wave of Syrian refugees who resettled in Canada. “People in this community are very nice to us. We feel so welcomed and safe here.”

After a staff meeting where they shared their emotions about the poll, the newcomer baristas and chefs decided to take action. They launched their Toronto is for Everybody campaign — with a T-shirt and a video produced pro bono by marketing firm, Zero Trillion — to spread a message of love to other Canadians that the city can be stronger and richer if we all open our arms to welcome each new neighbour.

Parin Kothari, who put up the $600,000 seed money out of his own pocket to open the café, said everyone there felt the need to have their voices heard in light of the increasingly unfriendly outlook toward migrants around the world and in Canada.

“We disagree with the popular slogan ‘Toronto vs. Everybody’ and thought there could be more inclusion. We want to tell people that. We want to become louder than them. This is the forum we have,” said Kothari, 41, himself an immigrant from India via the United States, where he worked as a management consultant before moving to Canada in 2010.

“This shirt is our message to everyone who challenges that. Wear it with pride and join us in saying, no matter your race, your gender. No matter your background, hometown or orientation. No matter your bank account, your passport or your mother tongue. No matter what. This city belongs to you.”

In 2015, Kothari quit a successful career in banking to pursue his dream of starting the not-for-profit to help others, a value his disabled parents instilled in him as a child growing up in Mumbai.

With two refugee friends he met while volunteering in helping Syrian newcomers, Kothari realized there’s a huge need for jobs and decided to open the café in late 2016, even though he had zero restaurant experience.

Each employee is paid minimum wage and trained to do everything from making coffee to inventory management and procurement. To date, 52 newcomers, the majority of them refugees, have come through the training and moved on with their newly acquired skills.

From not speaking a word of English to now serving customers in the café, Ghina Abdulwahed, who has worked at the coffee shop for a year, said it is not just a workplace but a community.

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“I was afraid and shy, but the customers welcomed me. They talk to me and are so nice to me. This is like a big family,” said the 20-year-old, who came to Canada with her family in 2017 from Syria via Egypt. “I was very unhappy to know that some Canadians don’t welcome us. It hurts.”

Money raised through sales of the T-shirt will go toward hiring more newcomers and expanding programming, including developing an employment support app, now that the café is almost at break-even after three years.

Kothari has recently returned to the corporate world and left the café’s day-to-day operation to manager Binal Wala, who came to Canada from India with her husband last October.

“We all come from somewhere to have a better life here,” said Wala, 33. “We all have the same struggle. Let’s support each other and help each other grow to make Toronto great and make Canada great.”