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Syrian refugees’ journey to Lethbridge delayed once again

More than 48 hours of miscommunication left Lethbridge Family Services waiting at the Lethbridge airport for answers. Matt Battochio / Global News

LETHBRIDGE – Lethbridge was once again expecting to welcome its first government-sponsored Syrian refugees on Thursday, but once again, that didn’t happen.

The first family of seven was originally scheduled to arrive on Wednesday afternoon.  Lethbridge Family Services says once the family landed in Calgary Wednesday night, following a weather delay in Toronto, Citizenship and Immigration Canada chose to relocate them to Edmonton as opposed to Lethbridge.  LFS officials don’t know why that decision was made, or whether the family will ultimately end up in Lethbridge.

A second family of five was scheduled to arrive Thursday at 12:30 p.m.  When the plane was off-loaded, they were nowhere to be seen. Lethbridge Family Services believes they were delayed at the Toronto airport and later confirmed no refugees would arrive on Thursday.

Once the refugees do finally arrive, LFS officials say the city will be ready.

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“Lethbridge Family Services is very prepared,” said Chief Executive Officer Sandra Mintz. “We’re ready to receive these refugees and once they’re able to get here, we’ll get underway with settling them.”

LFS says the city could see as many as 19 refugees arrive on two flights Friday, scheduled for 12:30 p.m. and 7:00 p.m.  But, as the past couple of days have shown, nobody knows for sure when the refugees will touch down in Lethbridge.

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