Canada warmly welcomes its first refugees from Syria

The story of Justin Trudeau greeting refugees at the airport was covered in numerous countries and was atop the New York Times website, along with a video.

A first group of 163 privately sponsored refugees touched down at Pearson International Airport in Toronto just before midnight on Thursday.

“We know the welcome and integration of refugees is a highly complex and multifaceted process, and this initiative is one modest piece of much broader collective and national efforts”, said Simon Brault, the director and CEO of the Canada Council for the Arts, in a press release. “Tonight matters, not just for Canada but for the world”.

“It goes beyond government to include every single Canadian to come forward and contribute according to your means”.

All of them will be staying with her in east-end Toronto.

See more images from the group’s arrival below.

He suggests dozens more planeloads of refugees will arrive in the next few weeks to help meet that target. “It’s a historical moment”.

“It’s incredible, really”, she said, getting emotional.

“I can’t imagine my feelings here, I’m so happy”, he said, tired but smiling, minutes after arriving at the hotel with his wife and son.

“CN will join with the Canadian Chamber of Commerce and other business leaders to direct funds to assist the needs of refugees”, says CN board Chairman Robert Pace.

Jenanian, who fled Aleppo with his mother, said he had to leave the country because life had simply become far too unsafe. “Certainly every provincial government has signed on with enthusiasm”, he said.

He added that “our top priorities are housing, housing and housing”.

“It’s like a Christmas gift to us”, she said of their arrival.

That war has forced thousands of Syrians to seek refuge in Canada, including Youssef’s five cousins, who arrived on the first Canadian government airlift late Thursday.

“We’re not going to sleep until they get here”, she said outside a Travelodge hotel near Pearson International Airport around 2 a.m.

“You’re with family now”, it began.

“You’re home. You’re safe at home now.”

A poll that Canada’s CBC News released last month said that not all Canadians are receptive to the new arrivals.

More than 400 refugees have already arrived on commercial flights since the Liberals took office on November 4. That deadline has since been pushed back to the end of February, with an estimated 10,000 refugees expected before 2016.

Reprinted with permission from Toronto Star.