A Syrian family who are among the first wave of refugees to come to Canada say they are looking forward to settling in to their new GTA home after arriving from Turkey earlier this week.

Through the private sponsorship of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama'at community, Rakan Al-Masri, his wife, daughter and three sons arrived in the country on Monday.

Speaking to CP24 Saturday afternoon, the family discussed fleeing their home in Homs, Syria and their first impressions of Canada.

Rakan Al-Masri’s son Najeed said that the decision was made to leave Syria when it became too dangerous for his family to stay.

“The conditions were very bad. We had to leave. There is nothing you can do. You just pray (to) Allah, pray (to) God, that you’ll be fine. That’s it,” he told CP24’s Travis Dhanraj.

“When I was in school, it (was) bombed and two of my friends were killed.”

The family temporarily resettled in Turkey after leaving Syria.

While Al-Masri’s family did not stay in any refugee camps, he said they visited his sister and mother who were living in one.

The living conditions of the camps varied from place to place, he added.

“The camps that are at the borders don’t have good living conditions,” he said.

Al-Masri said his family feels optimistic about their future here in Canada.

“We know that Canada is the country of peace, the country of freedom… political freedom, religious freedom. So it is an open community,” he said.

“It will be great for us to live in this country.”

Mumtaz Ali, a member of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama'at, said the group is sponsoring dozens of other Syrian refugees.

Ali said one other family, a 22-year-old man along with his 16-year-old sister and nine-year-old brother, came to Canada without their parents.

“Their father and mother and older brother was kidnapped by ISIS,” he said.

“When these families arrive in Canada, they need the moral support, financial support because they are homeless for a year or a couple of years and they need to establish themselves, they need every kind of support.”

The Canadian government has promised to bring 25,000 refugees to the country by the end of February and 10,000 by the end of this month.