Syrian refugee airlift to begin next week

The first planeloads of Syrian refugees are expected to arrive in Canada late next week.

Right now the federal government is looking for interest from commercial airlines able to provide planes with at least 200 seats — with military planes to be used if necessary.

Air Canada has previously said it could offer planes.

The first group coming will mostly be privately sponsored refugees whose arrival has been in the works for months.

About 250 Burlington residents turned out for a meeting last night to discuss the imminent arrival of refugees.

At the moment, five privately sponsored families are set to arrive in the city, but based on the positive response last evening, Burlington mayor Rick Goldring expects 20 to 25 families, and possibly more, will soon be calling Burlington home.

Goldring called the meeting in order to get input from the public on re-settling Syrian refugees.

Ten-thousand Syrians are expected to arrive in Canada by the end of this year, with Ontario pledging to take in about 4-thousand of them.

While Ottawa wants to bring in 25-thousand refugees by the end of February, the government suggests that number could grow to 50,000 by the end of next year.