Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand speaks with reporters at Canada’s High Commission in New Delhi on Monday. Ms. Anand says consular services are focused on prioritizing essential services as processing travel documents.Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press
Global Affairs Canada is increasing staff to help Canadians caught up in the Middle East conflict but also urging them to fend for themselves.
In a statement issued Monday morning, the department said its ability to provide consular services to Canadians during an active conflict is limited.
The priority is given to providing such essential services as processing travel documents.
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“If you are in an affected country, prepare contingency plans that don’t rely on the Government of Canada’s assistance for departure,” said the statement.
The statement said the department is not aware of any Canadians who have been killed or injured owing to hostilities.
It advises against any travel to Bahrain, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Kuwait, Lebanon, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates as well as non-essential travel to Jordan, Oman and Saudi Arabia.
The department says it is deploying members of its standing rapid deployment team, who are trained to deal with emergencies, to the region, and adding surge capacity to the 24/7 Emergency Watch and Response Centre for operations in Ottawa.
According to the advisory, more than 85,000 Canadians and permanent residents in the region have registered with Global Affairs Canada, with most in Lebanon – 23,165 – and the United Arab Emirates, 23,064.
There are 10,948 in Saudi Arabia, 8,234 in Qatar, and 7,238 in Egypt.
There are 2,932 in Iran and 6,006 in Israel.