Photo: CTV

The aunt of a drowned Syrian boy whose death has sparked worldwide awareness about the plight of refugees in Europe says she still hopes to bring the rest of her family to Canada.

Tima Kurdi said through tears outside her home in Coquitlam that she plans to help her brother, Abdullah, immigrate to Canada eventually.

She has previously said that she applied for her older brother, Mohammad, but Citizenship and Immigration Canada requested further documents.

Kurdi says she sent Abdullah $5,000 to pay smugglers for the risky journey from Turkey to Greece, and she blames herself for the deaths of three-year-old Alan Kurdi and his five-year-old brother Ghalib, along with their mother.

Photos of Alan's lifeless body on a beach in Turkey have put Canada's refugee policy in the spotlight amid the federal election, though Kurdi has said the deaths of her relatives and others is a wake-up call for the world.

Kurdi says she watched video of the boys being buried on Friday and she wished that she was there with her brother to wish them goodbye.