“They have been through a lot”.
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“Today, we welcome many Syrian refugees who were forced to flee their homeland because of war and conflict”.
The federal government has said it plans to bring 10,000 Syrian refugees by the end of the year and another 15,000 in early 2016. Her ailing father Boko Boko and sister Hanna are expected to join them later, aboard a charter flight.
A second Canadian military flight carrying refugees will arrive in Canada on Saturday.
Trudeau was eagerly waiting at the airport to welcome the “new Canadians”.
Thursday’s edition of the Toronto Star dedicated the front page to an editorial welcoming the new arrivals to the country, and included a message in Arabic.
Trudeau takes selfies at the airport before the refugee arrival. Some US governors said their states would not accept Syrian refugees. Those bureaucrats will consider the location of any family or friends the Syrians might have in Canada as well as whether they will have access to religious services, trauma counselling and cultural organizations – and also whether a town or city has the capacity to take them in.
Halifax Mayor Mike Savage, co-chair of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities Task Force on Syrian Refugee Resettlement, said, “CN’s support during this humanitarian crisis is a very welcome contribution to help address immediate and short-term needs of the thousands of refugees Canada will welcome in the coming weeks and months”.
“Life was very hard for them in Lebanon”.
“They cried when they left their family, for about two minutes”, she said.
“We live in a house and we do have the space for everyone”.
“I’m here to show my solidarity for and support of the Syrian people going through genocide in Syria”, Reef said.
“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”, Kevork Jamkossian told Trudeau as cameras flashed around them. “We are happy the wait is over”.
This week, hundreds of Syrians will be on the move again, this time to Canada with the first mass arrival of refugees as part of the Liberal government’s commitment to Syrian refugee resettlement. The refugees’ welcome to Canada will be underpinned by its well-recognised community integration programmes.
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Meanwhile, aid agencies said that Canada has set a humanitarian example by swiftly taking in some of the desperate Syrian refugees. Officials denied this was due to national security concerns. “Safety is our number one priority for all who come through our airport”.
