The picture of Alan Kurdi, nicely dressed and lying dead on a Turkish beach, went around the world and suddenly a discussion of the war in Syria that has mostly been ignored was ignited. Alan's death became bigger news in Canada because of the Canadian connection to the Kurdi family and the fact we are in the middle of a federal election campaign where those on the left, including the media, are suffering the pangs of Harper Derangement Syndrome.
Alan drowned, along with his young brother and mother when the family set out from Turkey trying to reach the island of Kos in Greece, on their way to Germany. They didn't get too far. The only family member to survive was Alan's father, Abdullah.