Photo: The Canadian Press

The aunt of a Syrian boy whose lifeless body was photographed on a Turkish beach says she hopes her brother's family will be in Canada by Christmas.

Tima Kurdi says Citizenship and Immigration Canada has approved her application to bring her brother Mohammed and his family to Canada, but security checks are still underway.

Mohammed is the uncle of three-year-old Alan Kurdi, whose image in early September sparked international sorrow and momentum to help Syrian refugees in crisis.

Kurdi's original application to bring Mohammed, his wife and five children to Canada was rejected because it didn't have the necessary paperwork.

She has said the rejection prompted Alan's father, Abdullah, to lose hope that he would be allowed into Canada and to instead attempt to cross the treacherous waters from Turkey to Greece.

Abdullah lost his two sons and wife in the journey, and Tima Kurdi says he is finding solace in helping refugee children in northern Iraq and no longer interested in coming to Canada.