First planeload of Syrian refugees headed to Canada

By Alastair Sharp
TORONTO, Dec 10 (Reuters) - After months of promises and
weeks of preparation, the first planeload of Syrian refugees was
headed to Canada on Thursday, aboard a military plane to be met
at Toronto's airport by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Trudeau's newly elected Liberal government scaled back the
number of Syrian migrants it will accept by year end after the
attacks in Paris sparked concern that bringing in 25,000 by Dec.
31 - an election promise - would not allow enough time for
security checks.
Some 300 Syrian refugees were expected to arrive on two
military flights, the first arriving in Toronto on Thursday and
the second in Montreal on Saturday. Trudeau has said 10,000 will
be resettled by the end of the year and a further 15,000 by the
end of February.
Toronto's mayor tweeted a welcome, while the Toronto Star,
the nation's largest newspaper, covered its front page with a
"Welcome to Canada" banner headline in English and Arabic, along
with an article explaining Canadian weather, ice hockey and
quirky local slang.
The Syrians' reception in Canada contrasted sharply with
that of the neighboring United States, where fear of Syrian
refugees following the deadly Nov. 13 Paris attacks spurred
opposition to allowing them in. Some U.S. governors said their
states would not accept Syrian refugees.
Canadian refugee groups and private sponsors said they were
excited and scrambling to prepare for the arrival of the
families, who have been chosen from camps in Lebanon and Jordan
after fleeing Syria's four-year-old civil war.
"Everyone is excited. We will be ready," said Lorig
Garboushian-Katrjian, a coordinator at the Armenian Community
Centre of Toronto, which has helped sponsor 71 refugees arriving
on the first plane.
With security concerns, immigration paperwork and the
flight's late-night arrival, most sponsors and family members
will not be able to meet the refugees at the airport, but the
government has arranged for the refugees to stay overnight at
nearby hotels, Garboushian-Katrjian said.
She said she had spoken to some of the families before they
boarded the plane and said no one minds the extra night in a
hotel.
"They said they are OK, no problem, one more day, it won't
count compared to the three or four years that have passed," she
said in a telephone interview. "It is the final destination for
them to start a new life."
While one provincial premier and some opposition politicians
initially said Trudeau was accepting too many refugees too
quickly, his decision to push back the timeline by two months
silenced much of the criticism.
Trudeau was elected to a surprise majority in October
promising to accept more refugees more quickly than the previous
Conservative government.

(Additional reporting and writing by Andrea Hopkins in Toronto
and David Ljunngren in Ottawa; Editing by Jonathan Oatis)