Six-year-old Ahmad Mazan Khabbaz, , a refugee from Syria, smiles as he is greeted by family friend Rakan Almasri, himself a recent arrival to Canada from Syria. The boy arrived with his parents and sisters at Toronto’s Pearson International Airport on Wednesday (AP PHOTO)
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 welcome given to the military flight carrying 163 refugees stands in stark contrast to the United States.
Canada’s much more populous southern neighbor plans to take in just 10,000 Syrian refugees over the next year, and even that is provoking opposition. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump caused a worldwide uproar with a proposal to temporarily block Muslims from entering the U.S.
Prime Minister Trudeau. (AP PHOTO)
Canada’s commitment reflects the change in government after October’s election. The former Conservative government 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.
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.
The flight from Jordan arrived just before midnight carrying the first of two large groups of Syrian refugees to arrive in the country by government aircraft.
Trudeau greeted some of the families to come through processing. The first family was Kevork Jamkossian, a blacksmith from Aleppo, his wife Georgina Zires, a sales clerk, 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.
Canada has long prided itself on opening its doors to asylum-seekers.
“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.
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