For entrepreneur Tareq Hadhad, founder of Peace by Chocolate, joy is ‘what keeps us human’ | Canada Voices

Entrepreneur Tareq Hadhad knows firsthand the impact community support can have on a person’s life. After fleeing war-torn Syria in 2012, Hadhad and his family – generations of chocolatiers – came to Canada three years later as refugees, eventually settling in Antigonish, N.S., with the help of local residents.

Hadhad has since built a name for himself by giving back. As the founder and chief executive of Peace by Chocolate, he harnesses people’s love for sweets as a vehicle for change, with every chocolate bar sold contributing to peace-building projects globally, and focusing on job creation for refugees in Nova Scotia and across Canada.

In this instalment of the Joy Diaries series, Hadhad explains why everyday, seemingly ordinary interactions hold so much joy for him and his family.

I’m a joyful person by nature, so it takes a lot for me to move away from my status quo. Joy is why my family started on this mission, because we know that chocolate is a symbol for happiness. My father is the chocolatier behind Peace by Chocolate; he started the entrepreneurial mission in Syria in 1996. He was actually trained to be a civil engineer, but he decided to start a chocolate company after he went to my cousin’s wedding and found that everyone was exhausted at the end of the celebration – until they started serving chocolate. He looked in people’s eyes and saw that everyone was more joyful. He came back home and told my grandmother: “I found it, I’m going to make chocolate because everyone who eats chocolate will be happy.”

I celebrate small moments with the people I care about the most. Life can feel quite repetitive in so many routines that we follow – from the time that we wake up, to the time that we go to our first meeting, to the same conversations we have with co-workers or family members. But I have trained myself to find joy in these repetitive, ordinary, small moments in every day that I live because our life has not been ordinary. We’ve gone through quite a significant transition, especially after the war, so we’ve learned that all of those simple moments are certainly ones that are worth appreciating.

A recent moment that really brought me joy was feeling my baby kick – my wife and I are expecting our first baby in February – and it stopped me in my tracks. I felt for a second that everything was possible again. This is one of the most extraordinary moments that anyone can ask for.

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I’m also celebrating sports more. I recently discovered a new passion for hockey. I don’t know if that comes in time for all immigrants to Canada, because I went to a hockey game when I first came here 10 years ago and I just walked out, but now I’m seeking out opportunities to go watch games. I don’t have a favourite team – I’m a Team Canada guy – but whenever I travel, I connect with friends in the area and we watch a hockey game. I think it’s about finding common ground with people.

There’s a sense of anxiety and a lot of fear in today’s world. People are quite uncertain about the direction the world is headed. Joy is relative, so we can’t generalize about why it’s so important right now, but in simple terms: Joy is what keeps us human and tells us what’s true from untrue. From my experiences, I’ve also found that joy is the fuel for our resilience and strength. It certainly was the reason why my family was able to get through some long days and it gave us a chance to rebuild our lives, especially after loss.

As told to Katherine Singh