Tuesday, March 17, 2026
ADVT 
National

More than 5,000 Canadians have fled Middle East, Anand says demand for help dropping

Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 10 Mar, 2026 09:35 AM
  • More than 5,000 Canadians have fled Middle East, Anand says demand for help dropping

Global Affairs Canada says it has helped more than 5,000 Canadians leave the Middle East since the latest conflict began, and demand for evacuation support is now falling off.

Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand is urging Canadians thinking of leaving the Middle East to do so and says the number of daily calls for help is now half what it was last week.

Her department says more than 4,300 Canadians, permanent residents and their relatives fleeing the region arrived in Canada between March 4 and March 8, through direct and indirect routes.

Another 871 people left the region for a safe third country such as Turkey, according to Global Affairs Canada.

As of Sunday, less than five per cent of the nearly 110,000 Canadians registered in the region had sought help to leave.

Global Affairs Canada says it is not aware of any Canadians killed or injured in the violence that started with American airstrikes on Iran on Feb. 28.

Picture Courtesy: AP Photo/Vahid Salemi

MORE National ARTICLES

Saskatchewan's government earmarking additional $1 billion in spending

Saskatchewan's government earmarking additional $1 billion in spending
Saskatchewan's government is poised to spend an extra $1 billion this year, a move that would sink the province's finances deeper into the red.

Saskatchewan's government earmarking additional $1 billion in spending

Canada's competition commissioner leaving job months before term ends

Canada's competition commissioner leaving job months before term ends
Canada's competition commissioner is leaving his post two months before his term comes to an end. Matthew Boswell says in a media statement he will end his term on Dec. 17, for personal reasons, ahead of his planned end date of February 2026.

Canada's competition commissioner leaving job months before term ends

Activists mark World AIDS Day by calling for criminal reform, prevention funding

Activists mark World AIDS Day by calling for criminal reform, prevention funding
Activists marked World AIDS Day on Monday by calling on the federal government to honour a Trudeau government promise to reform the laws on HIV disclosure, and to provide enough funding to get Canada's efforts to end the pandemic back on track.

Activists mark World AIDS Day by calling for criminal reform, prevention funding

University says event with One BC leader on residential schools not permitted

University says event with One BC leader on residential schools not permitted
The University of Victoria says it isn't allowing an event involving the leader of the One BC political party and two people who have publicly questioned suspected unmarked graves on the grounds of a former residential school in Kamloops.

University says event with One BC leader on residential schools not permitted

Alberta government to detail plan to fight federal gun buyback program

Alberta government to detail plan to fight federal gun buyback program
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says more details are expected today on her government's proposed plan to fight Ottawa's gun buyback program.

Alberta government to detail plan to fight federal gun buyback program

B.C. community holds vigil to mourn deaths, losses in deadly Hong Kong fire

B.C. community holds vigil to mourn deaths, losses in deadly Hong Kong fire
Family members of more than 150 people who died when seven highrises burned in Hong Kong last week "deserve the truth," said Phoebe Wong, who attended a memorial in Vancouver late Sunday for those killed. 

B.C. community holds vigil to mourn deaths, losses in deadly Hong Kong fire