“The time to leave Syria is now,” Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird said Thursday.
Mr. Baird has warned Canadians in Syria to leave since October. But escalating violence in Syria, combined with sanctions that have reduced the number of flights out of the country, have sparked Ottawa to declare a “voluntary evacuation” from the country. Mr. Baird urged Canadians to get travel documents and book a flight.
Federal officials said they estimate there are roughly 5,000 Canadian citizens in Syria, though only 1,512 have registered with the embassy in Damascus.
Most are believed to be dual citizens who live in Syria, federal officials said. But the complication is that their families are not always all Canadian citizens, and they may require visas to come to Canada. » | Campbell Clark | Ottawa | Thursday, December 15, 2011
