A spokeswoman for Mélanie Joly, the Foreign Affairs Minister, mentioned that 18 Canadians were airlifted by helicopter this morning. Haiti On Monday, Joly had announced that the 18 had already left
, but Global Affairs Canada has clarified that their departure was delayed due to bad weather.The people were flown to safety in the Dominican Republic once the heavy rain and wind conditions improved.
Joly revealed Canada’s plan to evacuate its citizens from Haiti on Monday afternoon.
Canadians with passports are given the opportunity to leave as Haiti faces food shortages and increasing violence from armed gangs.
Joly was informed before her Monday press conference that the evacuations had just taken place, and she only learned about the postponement after speaking with reporters, her spokeswoman stated.
Global Affairs mentioned that the 18 people were safely accommodated overnight, and more evacuations are now expected to continue.
Canada intends to transport small groups of Canadians to the Dominican Republic through helicopters for free, but they need to cover their own accommodation and return travel expenses to Canada.
The airlift is exclusively for Canadians with valid passports, and Joly mentioned that she is seeking permission from Dominican Republic officials to allow relatives of citizens as well as permanent residents of Canada to be evacuated as well.
The Canadian Embassy in the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince can provide emergency documents to individuals with missing or expired passports.
Approximately 3,000 people connected to Canada had voluntarily registered their presence in Haiti with the government as of Monday, officials reported.
Less than 300 of them had requested assistance to leave the country.
Even fewer — less than 100 of those seeking help, as mentioned by Joly on Monday — are Canadian citizens with valid passports.
Only about 30 of them indicated readiness to travel, an official informed reporters.
Canadians with passports are given the opportunity to leave as Haiti faces food shortages and increasing violence from armed gangs.
