“Desks, drawers, filing cabinets, the cars” — all were left behind or sold in the wake of a diplomatic spat whose effects are still being felt 10 years later, he told Radio-Canada. In 2012, Canada joined its allies in a coordinated expulsion of Syrian diplomats as the regime of Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad engaged in brutal violence against his own people. Operations inside the Syrian embassy have ground to a halt, but Khoury, now 74, says he has been asked by Bashar Akbik, Syria’s charge d’affaires, to continue to control the Queen Anne Revival building. Over the past decade, the provincial heritage building has experienced interior flooding, a main roof shift due to leaks and break-ins by squirrels, pigeons and people, Khoury said. The heating has also been turned off, he added. But Khoury said he still hopes the embassy at the corner of Somerset and Cartier streets, two blocks south of City Hall, can reopen one day. “It is a very solid building… I will go [take care of it] as long as it takes”. According to Heritage Ottawa, the building went up in 1901 and served variously as the home of a Supreme Court justice and a monastery before becoming the Syrian embassy. It closed in 2012 when Canada expelled Syrian diplomats. (Michel Aspirot/Radio-Canada)
The Embassy offered basic services
Khoury has lived in the Ottawa area most of his life and co-founded the Syrian Arab Canadian Association. He said the embassy provided vital services to Syrians living in Canada, including assistance with passports and dual citizenship. Now people are seeking help from the honorary consulate for Syria in British Columbia, he said. “The consulate will send [a person’s issues] to New York and New York will send it to Damascus. It takes about four, three months to finish a small matter that used to be done in three hours here at the embassy,” Khoury said. Radio Canada has reached out to the honorary consulate in BC for comment. The association’s former president, Mounir Louis, said it “breaks your heart” to see his home country’s embassy close, but that it will take time to change the situation. The ball is in Syria’s court, according to Global Affairs Canada. A department spokesman said via email that Canada’s position on normalizing relations with the Syrian regime has not changed and that there will be no “re-engagement” without a permanent political solution to the conflict. “Canada continues to support a political settlement to the conflict that is inclusive and under Syria … and includes a call to protect the rights of all Syrians,” they said. “Lasting peace will only be possible if it includes accountability for the crimes and terrible injustices inflicted on Syrians by the regime.” Rehabilitating the building would be “expensive,” Khoury said. (Michel Aspirot/Radio-Canada)
Over 40 complaints about the building
With the embassy’s work at an impasse, the condition of the property and the building’s exterior has caused concern. The city of Ottawa said in an email that it has received more than 40 complaints since 2012, including some for debris and litter, tall grass and weeds. More recently, in June 2022, concerns were raised about “several deficiencies, including damage to heritage features,” the city said. David Fleming, chair of Heritage Ottawa’s advocacy committee, said his organization wants to see the building preserved. According to a letter the group sent to the federal government in 2013, the building went up in 1901, served as both a convent and a Supreme Court justice’s residence, and is “an outstanding example of the architecture of its time.” “The least I’d like to see done is cover the windows if they’re broken and make sure they’re watertight,” Flemming told the CBC, adding that it’s “very disappointing” that the city is limited in what it can to do. This photo of the attic window of the former embassy was taken last month. Khoury says the birds have broken the plexiglass in front of the window grill. (Radio-Canada) In its statement, the city said property standards officers proactively monitor vacant heritage properties on a six-monthly basis and issue orders for condemned buildings, graffiti removal, repairs, restoration or property maintenance as required. However, the city “has no jurisdiction and is unable to enforce compliance with respect to designated diplomatic properties,” he added. Despite 10 years of no activity inside the building, Syria remains responsible for maintaining the properties, Global Affairs Canada said.
Reopening would be ‘expensive’
Khoury said he checks the building about every month and that local Syrians have helped clean the property. It’s usually the Syrian government that pays for maintenance, Khoury said. “Even with all the maintenance, when there’s a building you don’t live in and nobody uses it, no matter what you do, things are going to happen to it.” If the embassy ever reopens, restoring it to what it once was — with its mahogany walls and furniture imported from Syria — will be “expensive,” Khoury said. Still, he thinks it’s worth it. “It’s a matter of committing to a cause that [needed] to commit,” Khoury said. “We are proud Canadians, but also proud Syrians.”
