High housing costs pose a crushing financial challenge for refugees in Canada

Ikran Ahmed Mohamed and her husband were so exhausted after her 24-hour labour that they had no idea why a nurse lifted up their new baby — like Rafiki holding up Simba in The Lion King — and called him “the lucky boy.”

He may not be a king, but little Amiir — whose name means “prince” in Arabic — was greeted with fanfare when he arrived, weighing 8.3 pounds, at the stroke of midnight on New Year’s Day. A clutch of reporters and cameras was waiting to greet the first baby born in 2020.

“We didn’t even know it was already the new year,” said Amiir’s father, Deeq Mohamed Farah, who had been in and out of Humber River Hospital with Ikran over the holidays after the baby missed his due date of Dec. 22. “He’s a New Year surprise. We didn’t expect a New Year baby.”