Justin Trudeau gives a warm welcome to a planeload of Syrian Refugees

“It’s 24 hours daylight here – you can’t fast the whole month”. Mr Trudeau had earlier thanked staff and volunteers who were processing the refugees. A prominent activist with Black Lives Matter, Shaun King, tweeted: “Absolutely love the warmth, love, and compassion I see being shown toward tired Syrian refugees in Canada”.

Trudeau added in French, “Tonight they step off the plane as refugees”.

Refugees now in Lebanon are being transferred to Jordan before taking flights to Canada, IOM said.

The plane full of refugees landed just before midnight in Toronto as other privately sponsored refugees arrived on commercial flights, Reuters reported.

The new Liberal government, elected in October, had campaigned on a pledge to resettle 25,000 Syrians this year.

Trudeau has promised to take 10,000 refugees by the end of the year and a further 5,000 by the end of February.

Even with the delay, it is an unprecedented number to be brought in on such a short timeline, dwarfing the influx of 5,000 Kosovars who fled to Canada in 1999. Still, “they’re excited, they’re ready”.

The sponsorship groups have become accustomed to waiting. 54 percent of Canadians said they were against the government resettling Syrian refugees, while 42 percent said they support the plan. “They are our family”.

“We have a small Arabic community, Muslim community”.

“It’s like a Christmas gift to us”, she said of their arrival. “And when we got them together, it was an overwhelming response”, Randeep Sarai, MP for Surrey Centre, was quoted as saying. “And they will be safe here”.

The ones who arrived Thursday night were to stay in hotels before joining relatives or Canadian families who have offered to open up their homes to them. Their arrival date has not yet been confirmed.

There were tears, tight embraces and beaming smiles as newly arrived Syrian refugees united Friday with the Canadians who helped bring them to the country some called the best in the world.

“We are aiming to be this centralized hub for any settlement service that isn’t now offered by our government and to be a resource for families that are sponsoring refugees”, she said.

“It’s no problem”, she said. “Those case files – these are just not coming down the pipeline at this moment”.

Amira Barkho stood in the airport’s arrivals terminal on Thursday night, confused about how to find her sister, who she believed was part of the airlift.

Syria’s grinding four-year civil war has killed more than 250,000 people and displaced four million others.

Philpott says the government will ensure the health needs of the refugees are met. The US doesn’t seem like that. “Not just for Canada but for the world”, Trudeau said.