REGINA – It was a warm welcome at the Regina airport Friday night, as the Queen city welcomed 35 refugees on a flight from Toronto.
A total of three separate flights were scheduled to arrive in Regina throughout the day, carrying a total of nearly 100 refugees.
They were greeted by Mayor Fougere and the Regina Open Door Society (RODS) with some much needed winter clothes on one of this winter’s coldest nights.
“Now we’re seeing the big movement and we’re very pleased and you’re going to see a very welcoming Regina as we always would be and we have some gifts to them and we’re looking forward to it,” said Fougere.
Since the resettlement began, 65 refugees have arrived thus far but never this many at one time.
“We’re expecting about another 35 by Tuesday. So, we could be close to 200 of the 348 that we’ll be receiving up until the end of February,” explained Darcy Dietrich, the executive director with RODS.
The journey for many refugees has been long with some left behind.
One mother said she had to leave her 20 year-old son but that she hopes they will one day be reunited.
Still, many are happy to have a new home. Their next stop will be a warm bed before preparing for a new future in the Queen City.
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