MONTREAL—When the airplanes passed over the Syrian city of Hama, Nawal Jzdan’s family would crowd into the bathroom of their apartment and cower in fear until the threat of errant bombs dropping from the sky had passed.

On Saturday night, the sound of incoming and outgoing jet engines was the first instalment of what Jzdan’s family, who now live in Laval, Que., consider a blessing. Jzdan’s 23-year-old nephew, Eyad Kannab, was one of 161 Syrian refugees to arrive in Montreal on a military flight from Beirut.

It’s a blessing they credit to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

“Thank you, Canada. Thank you, Quebec. Thank you, Mr. Trudeau. He said it and he did it,” said Jzdan’s husband, Antoin Kanou.

Of the refugees on the first flight to land in Montreal, which is home to Canada’s largest Syrian expatriate population, all but one were being privately sponsored by relatives, churches and other groups in Quebec’s largest city and its suburbs of Laval and Longueuil, federal immigration officials said.

One individual on the flight was heading on to Charlottetown, P.E.I.

“I try to put myself in their place. They are going to be looking into your faces for smiles and for the ‘Welcome,’ ” Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard told a group of Red Cross volunteers who were waiting to welcome the refugees.

“We are going to show once again, as we have done several times already in Quebec and in Canada — what we are capable of, how we welcome people and the way that we respond to war, violence and terrorism.”

Preparations have been particularly spirited in Montreal. Elise Gravel, an illustrator, has been celebrating the refugees’ arrival on social media with her drawing of a bird holding an olive branch in its beak — as well as the words: Bienvenue aux réfugiés (Welcome to the refugees) in French and Arabic. It is fast becoming the defining image of the resettlement effort here, and is also being made into buttons that are being sold for $1 to raise money for groups that work with refugees long after the evactuation flights have ended.

“The more people who give a warm welcome to the refugees, the happier I am,” Gravel wrote on her Facebook page.

Another group, Fondation Je Veux Jouer (I Want to Play Foundation), has organized an early Christmas party next week for those remaking their lives in the province in an attempt to lighten the spirits of several dozen refugee children and their parents, said Hala Maatouk, a volunteer with the group.

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“It’s important because a child needs to be able to play. When they get to the refugee camps, the first thing that a child asks for is not that they want to get dressed, they need clothes or that they’re cold,” said Maatouk, who also works as an Arabic translator for refugees settling in the Montreal area.

Another goal of the party is to encourage the newcomers just beginning a daunting resettlement process by introducing them to those who have already found jobs and apartments or learned French.

“There are families that arrived just a couple of weeks ago. There are other families who have been here six months and some who have been here a little bit longer,” said Maatouk. “They will see how the others have adapted. Many have already found jobs. Some others who have just arrived have nothing.”

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