First government plane carrying refugees arrives in Canada

TORONTO: The first Canadian government plane carrying Syrian refugees arrived in Toronto late Thursday where they will 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 arrival of the military flight carrying 163 refugees comes amid an intense debate in the West over what to do with people fleeing violence in the Middle East. Canada's welcoming stands in stark contrast to the US.

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

 "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 to staff and volunteers who were waiting to process the refugees.

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 Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne and Toronto Mayor John Tory.

The Obama administration plans to take in 10,000 Syrian refugees over the next year. But 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. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump caused a worldwide uproar with a proposal to temporarily block Muslims from entering the U.S.

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.

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.