The federal government has started booking blocks of seats on commercial flights to help Canadians get out of Lebanon.
“Canada has secured seats for Canadians on the limited commercial flights available. If a seat is available, please take it,” Global Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly posted to X, formerly Twitter.
“Canadians need to leave now.”
Officials from Global Affairs Canada (GAC) told Radio-Canada the government took this step because commercial flights out of the country are becoming scarce as Israel’s military action against what it calls Hezbollah targets in Lebanon continues.
Since October of last year, the government has been advising Canadians in Lebanon to leave while commercial options are still available. Those advisories ramped up over the summer as tensions in the Middle East escalated.
The government says Canadians are responsible for paying the cost of the ticket. In her post, Joly said there is a government program to assist those who can’t afford it.
“Please ensure you are registered with our embassy in Beirut and indicate you want help leaving,” Joly said.
“If you need financial assistance, loans are available.”
In an interview with CBC’s The House airing Saturday, Defence Minister Bill Blair said the flights will “get people to safety” and mentioned Cyprus as an possible destination.
“That doesn’t mean repatriation all the way back to Canada,” Blair told host Catherine Cullen.
“We will get them to safety. That’s our responsibility. As far as where they go from there and what they do when they get to that place of safety, that remains their responsibility.”
Blair said the government is prepared to evacuate up to 20,000 people. There are an estimated 40,000 Canadian passport holders in the region, he said.
On Thursday, he ordered another 150 soldiers to the region.
“It’s simply precautionary at this point,” Blair said. “We are concerned about the escalating situation in Lebanon and monitoring it very carefully.”
More to come …