Frozen bank accounts, conflict zones on the borders, ethical dilemmas and lack of commercial flights are all reasons Canadians in Lebanon feel they cannot leave, despite the growing danger
Even if Ziad Kamali wanted to heed warnings from the Canadian embassy to hop on the next available plane out of Lebanon, the country’s battered financial system, along with Canada’s high cost of living, won’t allow for it.. “It’s terrible. If I want to leave with my family I need $25,000 to start for rent and furniture and everything. This money, we have it in the bank, but we cannot access it.”
The Deputy Commander of the Canadian Joint Operations Command, Major-General Darcy Molstad, told reporters in Ottawa Friday that Canada and its allies have set up a “multinational non-combatant evacuation operations co-ordination centre” in Cyprus. “We are making plans and preparations, in co-ordination, to be prepared to react if we have to,” Maj.-Gen. Molstad said.
That advice has proven unrealistic for many of the roughly 40,000 to 75,000 Canadians in Lebanon. The country of 6.5 million people slumped into economic meltdown four years ago, when decades of government corruption and irresponsible banking practices led to a run on the banks. Inflation hit triple digits and banks imposed strict withdrawal limits, even barring depositors access to life savings.
In 2006, he said, some people left the country through the Syrian border, but since the start of a civil war in 2011, that country has been considered an active conflict zone as well. Instead of escaping the country, Mr. Kamali said, some people in southern regions bordering Israel have migrated north around Beirut and Tripoli.Seventeen kilometres from the border, Fatima Haidar’s family held a meeting on Thursday afternoon to debate the ethics of staying versus leaving.
She and her family have long prepared for this day, maintaining bank accounts and other assets in Canada. “We would not be going to Canada because we need help,” she said. “We would go to Canada because we have money and we would boost the economy as taxpayers immediately.”
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