The agency that oversees Trudeau airport says it is ready to accept a flood of refugees from Syria.
Hundreds of refugees from the war-torn country are expected to arrive in Montreal on Saturday, according to Immigration Minister Kathleen Weil. .
By the end of February, 7,300 refugees will have flown to Trudeau airport, walked through Gates 17 or 19, and into a new section of the terminal that is set up for their reception, equipped as a temporary port of entry.
“We are deploying the necessary resources to welcome in the best possible conditions the Syrian refugees,” said Pierre-Paul Pharanda of Aeroports de Montreal.
All refugees have been given health and security screening in the Middle East, said Patrick Lefort of the Canada Border Services Agency.
“So there was a full control overseas and when the refugees arrive here we also control their identity,” he said.
Airport officials expect it will take four hours to process each planeload of passengers.
Refugees will go through two sets of immigration and customs interviews, and each person will have their fingerprints scanned to verify and track their identity. They will meet will federal health agents and their luggage will also be checked.
“The system is rigorous. It's stringent. There are not steps that have been cut out of the process,” said Vito Vassallo of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC).
Once they are processed, refugees will wait in a welcome centre that includes a nursing room and a children's play area.
"We are working with IRCC, Transport Canada, Canadian Food Inspection Agency, the Public Health Agency of Canada, and of course Aeroports de Montreal to make travellers as comfortable as possible while protecting the integrity of the arrival process," said Lefort.
Once they are accepted the new arrivals will travel by bus to the Canadian government reception site.
At the welcome centre, a large sign will welcome them to Canada, and signs in Arabic will guide them through the stations.
“Computers, telephones, so they could do a very short call home, call grandmother and any member of their family and tell them that they've arrived and the kids are secure,” explained Pascal Mathieu of the Canadian Red Cross.
They will then eventually head to their sponsors and their new home.
Some will be housed temporarily at CFB Valcartier, which fast-tracked plans to winterize its cadet camp in anticipation.
The military base's commander, Col. Sebastien Bouchard, said the Armed Forces will have people in place at Trudeau airport to greet refugees.
"We want to make sure we will put a face onto the person that will assist them all the time they will be here," said Bouchard.
The base currently has 2,000 beds. Another 31 cabins with a capacity of 12 beds each is in the works. Plans are being laid out to ensure the base is comfortable and welcoming should it be needed. The base will only be used as a last resort.
"What we are offering them is not a place to stay for a short period of time. What we are giving them as a society is hope," said Bouchard.
The Royal Victoria Hospital will be used as a site for medical evaluations given to refugees within 732 hours of their arrival in Montreal.
Once a refugee lands, they will already have an appointment scheduled for the clinic, where they’ll be seen by a nurse for a basic checkup and given any vaccines that may have to be administered.
The biggest challenge may be dealing with post-traumatic stress disorder, said Health Minister Gaetan Barrette.
“Examining refugees, immunizing them and all that, that’s fairly easily actually, but if you have PTSD, it’s something that we can address, it’s not a problem, but for those refugees, they’ll probably consume more services than all the rest,” he said.
The overwhelming majority of the refugees will settle in Montreal, with about 1,000 going to a dozen other cities across Quebec, including roughly 220 each in Quebec City, Sherbrooke, and Gatineau.
