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Ten people from three separate families arrived at Vancouver International Airport Tuesday to begin a new life in Canada after fleeing Syria.

The families are some of the 90 refugees being sponsored by the Armenian Apostolic Church.

“They left hell behind and now they are in paradise here,” sponsor Nerses Yeterian said.

Many of those sponsored by the church are of Armenian descent, having fled that country to live in Syria as refugees. Forced to leave Syria in 2012, they had been living in Beirut, Lebanon.

One sponsor spent about $35,000 to bring three refugees here while the Canadian government covered airfares.

“They will grow their families here, they will prosper,” Jack Deragopian of the Armenian Apostolic Church said.

“Many of them are entrepreneurs, businessmen, professionals. The family that’s coming just shortly is a dentist and his wife is an engineer. We hope that they will be able to soon follow their professions in the their new adopted country.”

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– With files from Ted Chernecki