Hadhads expand Peace by Chocolate in their adopted Nova Scotia hometown

For a woman who helped bring a family of refugees to Antigonish in 2015, the opening of a new Peace by Chocolate store on Main Street is another reason for celebration.

Antigonish resident Lucille Harper helped Tareq Hadhad and his family flee violence in their home country of Syria.

Hadhad opened Peace by Chocolate in Antigonish in 2016.

Harper said community members at Saturday's event were thrilled for the family.

"I think the community takes absolute delight as well as pride in seeing what the family has done," Harper said. 

"Tareq has quite a presence, not only in the community but also, really, within the country, and in many cases around the world because he is such a good advocate for the whole refugee effort that Canada has put forward."

Harper said the community shares the messages of caring, nurturing and love that the Hadhad family conveys through the business.

The opening coincided with the seventh anniversary of Hadhad's arrival in Antigonish.

He said the family has operated a store at their factory on Bay Street for years, but they thought it was time for a more accessible location.

He calls Antigonish the family's adopted home and the "foundation" of the company. He said it is the place that gave his family a sense of belonging and that Saturday marked a milestone.

"Antigonish is our home by choice and the sense of community that we found here I think is irreplaceable," Hadhad said.

"It's incomparable to any other location ... not only across Canada but across the world. People in Antigonish have believed in us and they really wanted to support us when we came here, regardless of our backgrounds."

Although Peace by Chocolate products are sold in 1,000 stores across the country, Hadhad said storefronts are important to have direct contact with the public.

For Harper, the Hadhads serve as an example of what it means to welcome refugees into a community.

"You have people coming from other countries and other cultures and other ways of seeing the world and everybody brings their own treasures in some ways with them."