The horrifying images of that little boy have impacted Canadians across this country but none more so than those from Syria.  Many of these people see their own children reflected in that video and wonder why it's taken this tragedy to draw attention to the crisis overseas.

From the safety of her home in Ottawa, Rana Ibrahim watches a tragedy unfold on the shores of a Turkish beach. They are images that have rocked the world and refocused attention on the crisis in Syria.

‘It was heartbreaking to see that child,’ she says.

Ibrahim left Syria a quarter of a century ago, well before the rockets started flying.  Her parents and family still live there, though, dodging death, she says, every day. 

‘Unfortunately Canada right now is not doing enough,’ says Ibrahim, who is with the Syrian Association of Ottawa, ‘they are making it hard on Syrians everywhere, inside Canada and outside.’

She and other Canadian Syrians wonder why it has taken the horrific images of that little boy to finally get the attention of Canadian politicians to the plight of Syrians. 

Garo Bandek is also with the Syrian Association of Ottawa and came to Canada from Syria in 2003.

‘The international society, they wake up for that picture?’ he says, referring to the photo of the little boy. ‘Where are our Canadian people when people were suffering and (getting) killed all over for 4 years?’

Some are drawing comparisons to the plight of Vietnamese refugees in the 70's; the so-called "boat people" who fled their war torn country in rickety boats. 

Dennis Luc, the owner of Ottawa's Mekong Restaurant, was one of them, only 13-years-old when he left Vietnam. 

‘We were 39 people on a 30-foot sailboat,’ he recalls.

Luc was part of a hugely successful refugee relocation plan called Project 4000, led by then-Ottawa mayor Marion Dewar.  It welcomed 4-thousand boat people to the capital through private sponsorship. The federal government followed suit with thousands more.

‘If any country can help, that's going to save many people lives,’ says Luc, referring to the Syrian refugee crisis.

Marion Dewar's son, Paul Dewar, the NDP candidate for Ottawa Centre, agrees and says Canada, today, is not doing enough.

‘It's about Canada doing what it should do and I think we can do a hell of a lot better than 2,500 over the last four years.’

Canadian-Syrians will be watching closely as to how the federal parties respond to this crisis.  Here in Ottawa, the Syrian community is already planning a demonstration, pushing Canada to act before any more little bodies wash up on shore.