The Yukon will be saying farewell to 10 members of the Arafat family soon as they get set to move to Windsor, Ont.

Yukon Cares founder Raquel De Queiroz said Wednesday that the Syrian family who arrived in the territory as refugees in January 2016 will be moving on.

The sole exception is Ismail, the second-oldest of the nine Arafat children.

Yukon Cares sponsored the family, providing a year of support and financial assistance after they arrived in Whitehorse on Jan. 30, 2016.

The assistance was extended at a reduced amount for six months before ending as the family worked to become financially independent.

Ismail, who works as a barber at Hendrik’s Barber Shop downtown, has decided to remain in Whitehorse.

As De Queiroz explained, Windsor is seeing an influx of Syrian families who have arrived in the country as refugees.

While the Arafats have certainly expressed they have felt very welcomed in the Yukon, they are missing the Syrian community and want to move to Windsor to be part of that.

They also feel there will be more opportunities for the children to attend university in Ontario, De Queiroz said.

“It was certainly not an easy decision (for them),” she noted, adding the children have thrived in Whitehorse.

The family was able to earn and save money during their time in the Yukon.

The mother, Fatima, has started a sewing business from home along with family members selling Syrian goods at various community events.

Hussein – the father of the family – has been working at a local Shoppers Drug Mart outlet, with the older, grown children taking on their own jobs and/or school courses through Yukon College.

The younger members of the family are attending public school.

While all but one member of the family will make their way to Ontario, De Queiroz said Yukon Cares sees this as a successful sponsorship, given the family’s success in adjusting to their new life in Canada.

Yukon Cares, meanwhile, is getting set to welcome more members of the Arafats’ extended family.

The group is working on its next sponsorship for Hussein’s brother, his wife and three children, and Fatima’s brother. It will likely be at least a year before they are able to come to Canada, De Queiroz said.

She also noted Yukon Cares will host its annual general meeting at 7:30 p.m. Monday at the Whitehorse Public Library.

Along with looking at the detailed finances of the group, discussing the work from the past year and plans for next year, De Queiroz said local nurse Trish Newport will give a presentation.

“Trish Newport is a Yukon nurse who has worked with Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) since 2009,” states the group’s Facebook event page.

“She has worked in Djibouti, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Niger, Chad, Cameroon, South Sudan, Lebanon and Iraq.

“She recently returned from her 10th field assignment with MSF, where she managed an MSF project in Northern Iraq and Mosul.

“Trish will share her experiences and perspectives from the frontline of humanitarian assistance.”

De Queiroz said she hopes to see a large crowd attend the AGM.