CAIRO – A group involving Muslim and Jewish youth from Ottawa schools has hosted a special event to welcome Syrian Muslim refugees to Canada, the first in a series of events aimed at building bridges in the community.

“We’re one,” Mohamed Ali, an artist who recently arrived from Syria, told Ottawa Citizen.

“Jewish, Muslim, Christian — we’re one. The same community.”

Ali was speaking during an event hosted by Young Voices CAN at the Carleton Heights Community Centre on Sunday.

The Syrian artist brought some of his paintings including one showing the beaming face of a child, a tear rolling down his cheek and the caption, “thank Canada.”

“He’s so happy, he’s crying,” Ali, his wife, two sons and daughter nearby, said through an interpreter.

“He left the war and came to peace.”

The dinner was organized by Young Voices CAN, a group that involves kids from Ottawa schools in regular events aimed at learning respect for one another’s perspectives.

The group also works on reducing Islamophobia and anti-Semitism as well as preventing marginalized youth from becoming radicalized.

Uniting both Muslim and Jewish youth for a noble cause, the group helped them to find similarities between both faiths.

“This is our community as well,” Ahmed Kataite, a Grade 11 student at John McCrae Secondary School in Barrhaven, said.

“I feel the only way you can combat that is to say, ‘This is us.’”

Chef Alaa Daama, a Canadian of Palestinian origin who lived in the West Bank, got involved with the project by helping the teens prepare the elaborate meal.

“I know how people were suffering on both sides,” he said.

“We are different colors, different faiths. We need to live together to build a good future for our kids. We’re promoting peace.”

Muslims make around 2.8 percent of Canada’s 32.8 million population, and Islam is the number one non-Christian faith in the country.

A recent survey showed that the overwhelming majority of Muslims are proud to be Canadian, and that they are more educated than the general population.