First Government Plane Carrying Refugees Arrives in Canada

TORONTO (AP) —

The first Canadian government plane carrying Syrian refugees arrived in Toronto late Thursday where they were 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 arrival of the military flight carrying 163 refugees stands in stark contrast to the U.S. decision to take in 10,000 Syrian refugees over the next year, and to Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s proposal to temporarily block Muslims from entering the US, which caused a worldwide uproar.

The flight arrived just before midnight carrying the first of two large groups of Syrian refugees to arrive in the country.

Trudeau greeted the first two families to come through processing. The first family was a man, woman and 16-month-old girl. The second family was a man, woman, and three daughters, two of whom are twins. Trudeau and Ontario’s premier welcomed them to Canada and gave them winter coats. Both families said they were happy to be there.

“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,” Trudeau said earlier to staff and volunteers who were waiting to process the refugees.

All 10 of Canada’s provincial premiers support taking in the refugees, and embers 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 Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne and Toronto Mayor John Tory.

In the US, 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 terrorists in Paris and California.

The first flight arrived in Toronto before midnight and another 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 because 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.

The headline on the front page of Thursday’s Toronto Star, Canada’s largest circulation newspaper, read: “Welcome to Canada,” with the Arabic translation below: Ahlan wa sahlan, “Welcome.”

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.

“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.

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