The new Liberal government, elected in October, had campaigned on a pledge to resettle 25,000 Syrians this year.
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He says ten private sponsors have so far submitted applications to the federal government to sponsor refugees.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he rejected the idea of “exclusion” for single men.
At the airport, privately sponsored refugees have already been arriving on commercial flights in recent days at a separate terminal from the military airlift.
The first planeload of refugees heading for Toronto has 35 people aboard who will settle in Alberta, including 15 who will come to Edmonton, said Theodora Jean, a department spokeswoman.
– Then-immigration minister Chris Alexander admits that fewer than 200 Syrian refugees have arrived in Canada since the July 2013 promise, saying the UNHCR was slow passing on referrals.
Two friends from the neighboring town of Guelph, Ontario, Joja Smiljanic, 19, and Christine Ross, 19 took time off of studying for first-year university exams to welcome the newcomers.
“Resettling refugees demonstrates our commitment to Canadians and to the world that Canada understands that we can and must do more”, Trudeau told the House of Commons on Wednesday.
The request did not deter Shai Reef, 20, who held up a sign that read: “Welcome to Canada” in Arabic.
The plane carrying 163 Syrian refugees touched down in Toronto just before midnight on Thursday and will be followed by a second military airlift to Montreal on Saturday.
“We are unleashing an enormous amount of positive energy to look at how to welcome these people here”, said Beatty, whose chamber is encouraging its network of 200,000 businesses to hire refugees and raise money to assist in their settlement.
Andrew Harris, 51, said he wanted to counter the fearful messaging about Muslims that has circulated since the Paris attacks.
The Toronto Star, the country’s largest-circulation daily newspaper, ran a cover on Thursday welcoming the refugees.
McCallum said about 800 refugees are being screened by security and health officers each day in Lebanon and Jordan.
“In this case, full IFHP benefits, known as ‘Type 1’ coverage, is being made available to all of the Syrian refugees arriving in Canada as part of this initiative”.
The Canadian prime minister was joined at the airport by hordes of people, who brought along snacks and warm clothes for the new arrivals. The Canadian government agreed to cover the cost of travel for Syrian refugees, although other refugee groups still need to pay for their travel to Canada.
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Late last month, the Canadian government amended its Syrian refugee policy to limit new arrivals to families, women and children. “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”.
