First plane load of Syrian refugees arrives in ‘paradise’

The Obama Administration has committed to resettling an additional 10,000 refugees in America over the coming year.

On late Thursday night, 163 Syrian refugees arrived at Toronto’s Pearson Airport as part of the first wave of Canada’s effort to relocate refugees fleeing unrest in the Middle East. “And thank you for the gorgeous smiles I see”, Trudeau said.

The request did not deter Shai Reef, 20, who held up a sign that read: “Welcome to Canada” in Arabic. It was a powerful symbol of the support these people will find in Canada.

“The widespread embrace of the plan by the Canadian public stands in stark contrast with the controversy raging over the issue in the United States”, the Times’s Ian Austen reports.

Immigration Minister John McCallum said that he remains hopeful the government can bring in 10,000 refugees by December 31.

She said she had spoken to some of the families before they boarded the plane and said no one minds the extra night in a hotel.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau gives newly-arrived Syrian refugee Sylvie Garabedian, center, a winter jacket as her mother Anjilik Jaghlassian, right, looks on at Pearson International airport, in Toronto, on Friday, Dec. 11, 2015.

Trudeau said that Canada is revealing “the world how to open our hearts” and welcome individuals fleeing “astonishingly challenging scenarios” in search of a better life. “The Canadians are extremely welcoming”.

“Texas will not accept any Syrian refugees & I demand the USA act similarly”.

The new Liberal government’s refugee policy has faced scrutiny in the wake of the 13 November attack in Paris that killed 130 people, which sparked fears in the USA and Canada that Islamic State militants would enter the country among new intakes of refugees. All told, the screening process can take as long as two years.

A business that hires a Syrian refugee can take advantage of a work placement program that provides a subsidy of up to $15,000 to cover an employee’s wages, training and various other needs. The figure, announced in September, was for the USA fiscal year that began in October.

To date some 30 countries have pledged a total of more than 160,000 places for Syrians under resettlement and other humanitarian admissions schemes. And, it’s because of this fear that many Republican politicians are hesitant on the topic of Syrian refugees.