Refugees enjoy 1st taste of Montreal winter

It took a while, but new arrivalsgot their first taste of a Montreal winter this week.

The city was slammed with 39 centimetres of snowon Tuesday, a record for Dec. 29.

"I know it's cold, but I didn't know there was thismuch snow," saidShakhan Taha, who arrived with his family from Iraq in November.

"But I like cold. It's very nice for meand for the chidlren."

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Taha, his wife and childrenare settling into an apartment in Montreal's Notre-Dame-de-Grce neighbourhood.

He said he'sthrilled to find a new home in Canada.

"I'm happy.I'm very, very happy," he said. "No one wants to make problem with you."

Tahaand his family havea hearing scheduled for the end of January 2016 regarding theirstatus asrefugee claimants.

He claims he was a targetof extortion by a member of the jihadist groupISIS in Iraq.