Over these past two weeks we have dealt with a most amazing, responsive, hard-working bunch of federal government employees. They have worked collaboratively with us to address minutia, while being uncompromising with respect to quality standards. At the airport, there was a Welcome Centre, complete with a play area for the kids arriving, lined with teddy bears for each one. There was a was resting area, food and drink and there were buses to take the newly arrived exhausted but elated group of refugees to hotels nearby. Our interpreters were booked to be everywhere, at the entry point, the welcome centre, the buses and the lodging sites. We had fifty of them all pumped up and eager to be part of history. Crowning moments were when they got their selfies with their superstar Prime Minister and interpreted for him as he interacted with the first families that arrived here on the Department of National Defence’s plane from Amman Jordan. Two short months ago, things would have been much different. Then there was a culture of fear and suspicion of everything foreign.
But last night the mood was best summed up by the Prime Minister when he spoke extempore from the heart and said:
"They step off the plane as refugees, but they walk out of this terminal as permanent residents of Canada with social insurance numbers, with health cards and with an opportunity to become full Canadians. This is something that we are able to do in this country because we define a Canadian not by a skin color or a language or a religion or a background, but by a shared set of values, aspirations, hopes and dreams that not just Canadians but people around the world share."
Yes a leader can made a difference and raise the morale of a nation. There will always be naysayers but I am not about to let them detract from yesterday’s jubilation. It was a night to remember!
Justin with Team MCIS Interpreter in the yellow vest at 1:00 am ! A proud moment...