GTA welcomes first batch of Syrian refugees to Canada

Prime Minister Trudeau and Kathleen Wynne were on hand to welcome the first two families from the plane that brought 163 Syrian refugees to Canada.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau welcomed the first of a planeload of refugees arriving at Toronto’s main airport in the wee hours of December 11, 2015.

“Canada’s programmes are an expression of support to Syrian refugees but importantly for us they are a demonstration too of solidarity to countries in the region hosting more than 4 million Syrian refugees”, United Nations refugee agency spokesman Adrian Edwards told a news briefing in Geneva.

“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. “I am pleased to support this initiative that will allow newcomers to discover Canadian culture through enriching cultural and artistic experiences”, said Mélanie Joly, the Minister for Canadian Heritage in a press release.

Some 300 Syrian refugees were expected to arrive on two military flights, the first arriving in Toronto on Thursday and the second in Montreal on Saturday.

Before the plane landed, Trudeau spoke to the team of paramedics, government staff, and volunteers, eagerly waiting to greet the new arrivals.

McCallum, who was in Jordan over the weekend, on Wednesday described the refugee effort as a “national project”, the Globe and Mail reported on Thursday. Those refugees were mostly sponsored by private Canadian citizens and groups and flown in on passenger aircrafts.

In an attempt not to overwhelm the refugees, the general people was asked by the Canadian authorities not to come to the airport, but some well wishers did not prevent.

Andrew Harris, 51, said he wanted to counter the fearful messaging about Muslims that has circulated since the Paris attacks.

He held up a large yellow sign that read “Welcome to Canada”, and said that even if the arriving refugees do not see it, the positive words will not go unnoticed. The others are sponsored by Canadians in British Columbia as well as another part of Ontario and Alberta.

Canada’s commitment reflects the change in government after October’s election.

Across Canada, government departments, NGOs and local groups are scrambling to lay the groundwork for the country’s most ambitious refugee resettlement programme since the Vietnam war. Many also expressed pride in how the country was opening its doors to the refugees. In times of crisis in decades past, Canada resettled refugees quickly and in large numbers. In the 1990s, Canada took in 5,000 people from Kosovo; in 1972, it flew 5,000 people from Uganda; 60,000 Vietnamese were airlifted in 1979-80.