New Brunswick’s first Syrian refugee families arrived in Fredericton Saturday afternoon to a warm welcome from the community.
The provincial government says 15 refugees, making up two families, arrived at Fredericton International Airport around 3:30 p.m.
Premier Brian Gallant, members of Parliament, and churches sponsoring Syrian families were all on hand to welcome the refugees to their new home.
“A mom and a dad, we know there's an older sister and four younger brothers, so it's a pretty good sized family,” said pastor Larry Matthews of Faith Baptist Church. “We’re looking forward to making New Brunswick their home.”
Gallant says more refugee families are expected to land in New Brunswick in the coming days.
“There were three of the kids that as they walked into the building, they actually went to the window to just stare at the snow,” said Gallant. “So one of the first things we did was reassure them that it’s not always there and it’s not always this cold, but they really thought it was really cool.”
The New Brunswick government says it has made a commitment to accept 1,500 of the 25,000 expected to come to Canada.
“New Brunswick is an example for the rest of the country of a province and community that stepped up and said, 'You know what, we want to do much more than our share to welcome these refugees,’" said Government House Leader Dominic LeBlanc.
The first Syrian refugees to arrive in the Maritimes landed Wednesday in Halifax.
With file from CTV Atlantic’s Nick Moore.
