Second planeload of Syrian refugees to arrive in Canada Saturday

“It’s not that other Syrians haven’t arrived, but it’s showing the first tangible result of this new pledge that this government’s made”, she said.

“…it’s not just about receiving them tonight”.

“All my friends are asking about Canada now and how they can come here”.

As Middle East Eye reported last week, Canadian officials opened a registration centre in Amman at the end of November in hopes of speeding up the refugees’ arrival. Harper’s government insisted Syrian refugees needed to be carefully vetted in case they posed a security threat.

He suggests dozens more planeloads of refugees will arrive in the next few weeks to help meet that target. Not (only) for us, but the overall Canada. The bags had items added as people arrived to greet the refugees. “To each according to his ability, and we will get this national project done”.

Hamid Osman has some advice for the Syrian refugee family who will soon be resettled in Whitehorse, the Yukon capital about 211 miles (340km) north of Juneau, Alaska. “Certainly every provincial government has signed on with enthusiasm”, he said.

This morning CN Rail announced it was donating $5 million toward refugee resettlement with the money focused on housing.

The country’s Immigration Minister, John McCallum, informed that all of Canada’s 10 provinces approved the measure to accept refugees.

There’s a major effort here and in Jordan, Turkey and Lebanon “to ensure that processing goes quickly, to ensure that planes are available”.

A military plane carrying the first group of refugees arrived at Toronto’s Pearson International Airport, where they were met by Trudeau and Canadian citizens eager to greet the new arrivals.

The first family was a man, woman and 16-month-old girl. “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 prime minister handed out winter coats, shook hands and welcomed the families.

“We really would like to thank you for all this hospitality and the warm welcome and all the staff-we felt ourselves at home and we felt ourselves highly respected”, Jamkossian said.

Refugees carried their belongings in red plastic bags with a sticker that read “Welcome to Canada”.

A couple of Syrian Canadians were on hand to welcome their countrymen in Arabic.

“I am reaching out to the Canadian business community to show a similar generosity”, said McCallum.

The first flight of Syrian refugees arrived in Canada just before midnight on Thursday, as part of new Canadian premier Justin Trudeau’s plan to resettle 25,000 refugees by February.