Canada Returns to Airlifting Refugees

After a landslide electoral victory in October, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau repeated a campaign pledge to resettle 25,000 refugees by 31 December. “Our message on behalf of the arts community to newcomers is ‘welcome, we are so happy to have you in our communities, we welcome you to our spaces, performances and events when you are ready”, he said.

The Canadian airlifts are being carried out from Beirut and Amman, the Jordanian capital, the two cities where the Canadian government has set up refugee-processing centers for Syrian fleeing their civil war. “It goes beyond government to include every single Canadian, whom we are asking to come forward and contribute…”

Literally. Justin Trudeau, the new Prime Minister of Canada, was there when 163 Syrian refugees touched down in Canada to start their new lives. A second flight is scheduled to land in Montreal on Saturday.

“We suffered a lot”, Jamkossian said. They also were screened one more time at the airport and given permanent residency documents and health cards giving them access to free health care.

Trudeau said last month that he is “very much committed to keeping Canadians safe” while continuing to bring Syrian refugees into the country.

“I’m here to show my solidarity for and support of the Syrian people going through genocide in Syria”, Reef said.

Across the country, Canadians have been saying we need to do more to help Syrian refugees. A handful of people gathered at the global arrivals gate at Pearson airport bearing signs and gifts.

Angela Keller-Herzog, with the volunteer-run Ottawa Centre Refugee Action, said her group is ready to sponsor up to 30 refugees through the UNHCR referral program but that just three have been confirmed so far.

“This is a wonderful night where we get to show not just a planeload of new Canadians what Canada’s all about, but we get to show the world how to open our hearts and welcome in people who are fleeing extraordinarily hard situations”, Trudeau said in a speech.

Andrew Harris, 51, said he wanted to counter the fearful messaging about Muslims that has circulated since the Paris attacks. The former Conservative government had declined to resettle more Syrian refugees, despite the haunting image of a drowned 3-year-old Syrian boy washed up on a Turkish beach.