As thousands of Syrian refugees begin arriving in Canada this month, officials and volunteers across the country are preparing to help them settle in.
The Canada Border Services Agency has set up temporary ports of entry at Toronto Pearson International Airport and Montreal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport, where refugees can be processed within three to four hours.
At least three planeloads of Syrian refugees will arrive daily, at Gate 521 of Pearson’s rarely-used infield terminal, CTV Toronto’s Colin D’Mello reported as he toured the facility on Tuesday.
The first chartered plane carrying refugees could touch down in Toronto as early as Thursday.
Others will arrive at Gate 19 of Montreal's Pierre Elliott Trudeau airport.
Canadian Border Services agents, Public Health, and immigration officials, as well as Arabic translators will greet and process the refugees.
Signs in Arabic have already been posted throughout the terminal so that refugees feel more welcome and understand that Canada is a multicultural country, one official said.
After security and health checks, the refugees will be able to get information about their permanent residency status, as well as social insurance numbers before being bussed to another location, where those who were privately sponsored will meet with their benefactors.
The infield terminal will not be accessible to the public as the refugees arrive. The exact date of the first flight carrying refugees to Toronto is not yet known.
It is expected that nearly 80 per cent of refugees arriving in Ontario will end up in the Greater Toronto Area, where municipalities and volunteer groups have been preparing housing units and organizing clothing drives.
In Montreal, the refugees will also be screened in a separate area of the Pierre Elliott Trudeau airport. To confirm their identities upon arrival, biometric scans will be used to check fingerprints, one CBSA agent told reporters during a media tour.
"Once this is done, information will be validated with what was taken aboard," said Alexandre Almeida.
Two old federal buildings in Montreal where archives were once stored have been converted into makeshift refugee welcoming centres.
It is here that refugees will be able to contact their loved ones back home.
"They can do a very short call home. Call grandmother, or any member of the family, tell them they have arrived and the kids are OK," said Pascal Mathieu, director of fund development at Quebec's division of the Canadian Red Cross.
Refugees will also be assigned social insurance numbers and offered warm clothes.
Many community groups have been stockpiling clothes, supplies and food for the new arrivals.
The Valcartier military base in Quebec is also ready to take in refugees, if necessary. Its cadet camps have been winterized and enough beds for 2,360 refugees have been prepared.
Other initiatives are also being taken to help the Syrian refugees resettle in their new communities.
Schools are preparing to deal with incoming refugee students.
The government is also urging employers to offer up jobs.
The Marche Adonis grocery chain is preparing for new hires, and already has several Syrian refugees on the payroll.
Rami Matta left war-torn Aleppo less than a year ago, finding work at one of the stores and a new country he adores in Canada. He hopes that the refugees arriving soon will also receive a warm welcome.
"This is really something great -- giving them a new life," he said. “They lost their feeling of life, but when they reach Canada they got a new home like they were reborn."
Federal immigration officials have said that 10,000 Syrian refugees – the majority of them privately sponsored -- will arrive in Canada by the end of the year. Another 15,000 are expected to arrive in early 2016.
With a report from CTV’s Genevieve Beauchemin, CTV Toronto and CTV Montreal
