First planeload of Syrian refugees arrives in Canada
TORONTO -- The first Canadian government plane carrying Syrian refugees arrived late Thursday in Toronto, where they were to be greeted by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who is pushing forward with his pledge to resettle 25,000 Syrian refugees by the end of February. The aircraft had 163 refugees on board.
Trudeau's pledge stands in stark contrast to the attitude of some in U.S., where Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump caused a worldwide uproar with a proposal to temporarily block Muslims from entering the U.S.
The U.S. plans to take in 10,000 Syrian refugees over the next year.
The flight arrived just before midnight carrying the first of two large groups of Syrian refugees to be brought to Canada by government aircraft.
Trudeau greeted some of the families to come through processing. The first family was Kevork Jamkossian, a gynecologist from Aleppo, his wife Georgina Zires, a lab technician, and their 16-month-old daughter Madeleine.
"We really would like to thank you for all this hospitality and the warm welcome," the father said to Trudeau through an interpreter. "We felt ourselves at home."
"You are home. Welcome home," Trudeau responded.
"We suffered a lot. Now, we feel as if we got out of hell and we came to paradise," Jamkossian said later.
Families were given teddy bears and winter clothing. Trudeau earlier thanked staff and volunteers who were processing the refugees.
"This is a wonderful night, where we get to show not just a planeload of new Canadians what Canada is all about, we get to show the world how to open our hearts and welcome in people who are fleeing extraordinarily difficult situations," he told the staff and volunteers.
All 10 of Canada's provincial premiers support taking in the refugees, and members of the opposition, including the Conservative party, attended the welcoming late Thursday. Trudeau was also joined by the ministers of immigration, health and defense, as well as Wynne and Toronto Mayor John Tory.
In the U.S., several Republican governors have tried to stop the arrival of Syrian refugees in their states in the wake of the deadly attacks blamed on Islamic extremists in Paris and California.
Another flight carrying Syrian refugees will land in Montreal on Saturday.
The planes, both military aircraft, will carry a total of about 300 Syrian refugees.
Canadians eager to show their support for the newcomers weren't deterred by the fact that they couldn't do so face to face as the refugees were processed in a secure area. A handful of people gathered at the international arrivals gate at Pearson airport bearing signs and gifts.
Greg Keoushkerian, 26, waited at the airport for his best friend, who he sponsored. Keoushkerian, a Syrian refugee of Armenian descent, said he and his family have been in Canada for 10 months and didn't bother applying for asylum in the U.S.
"Canada has been so welcoming, the U.S. doesn't seem like that. People here respect each other here. It's so multicultural," he said. "All my friends are asking about Canada now and how they can come here. In two weeks, there will be another flight with some of my other friends."
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," saying that even if the arriving refugees don't see it, the positive words won't go unnoticed.
The headline on the front page Thursday's Toronto Star, Canada's largest circulation newspaper, read: "Welcome to Canada," with the Arabic translation below: Ahlan wa sahlan. "Welcome."
The front page included an editorial. "You'll find the place a little bigger than Damascus or Aleppo, and a whole lot chillier. But friendly for all that. We're a city that cherishes its diversity; it's our strength," it reads.
About 800 refugees are being screened by security and health officers each day in Lebanon and Jordan.
Canada's commitment reflects the change in government after October's election. Former Conservative Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who lost the Oct. 19 election to Trudeau, 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. The boy had relatives in Canada, and the refugee crisis became a major campaign issue.
"They step off the plane as refugees, but they walk out of this terminal as permanent residents of Canada with social insurance numbers, with health cards and with an opportunity to become full Canadians," Trudeau said. "This is something that we are able to do in this country because we define a Canadian not by a skin color or a language or a religion or a background, but by a shared set of values, aspirations, hopes and dreams that not just Canadians but people around the world share."
Canada has long prided itself on opening its doors to asylum seekers. In times of crisis in decades past, Canada resettled refugees quickly and in large numbers. It airlifted more than 5,000 people from Kosovo in the late 1990s, more than 5,000 from Uganda in 1972 and resettled 60,000 Vietnamese in 1979-80. More than 1.2 million refugees have arrived in Canada since World War II.