Updated at 5:00 yesterday.
Hugo Lautissier Special collaboration
(Beirut, Lebanon) From her huge apartment in Beirut’s Achrafieh district, Nathalie, in her sixties, slowly examines the pages of an old photo album: winters under the snow with her family, happy summers in Mount Royal Park in Montreal. Nathalie, who preferred not to give her last name, received Canadian citizenship in 1990 after leaving Lebanon during the war (1975-1990). She lived there with her husband for several years and one of her two sons was born there before they moved to Lebanon.
“For me to make the decision to leave, bombs would have to fall in my neighborhood. Even though I have a strong connection to Canada, this is my home,” explains the woman, whose two sons live in Canada.
PHOTO HUGO LAUTISSIER, SPECIAL COLLABORATION
In Beirut, Nathalie consults her vacation albums in Canada from the 1990s.
Like her country, Nathalie has weathered many storms in recent years. After the economic crisis of 2019, she lost her savings, which were locked in the bank and whose value was divided by 10 due to the devaluation of the Lebanese pound. The following year, his apartment overlooking the harbor was destroyed in the August 4 explosion.
We spent over a year rebuilding the apartment with my husband. I can’t imagine giving it up now without knowing when I’ll come back. All this to live in Montreal in a two-bedroom apartment with my son? You need money to live in Canada!
Nathalie
Since October 7th and the Hamas attack in Israel, fear of the conflict spilling over to the country’s southern border has been on everyone’s lips. There are daily bombings on both sides of the border between the Israeli army and Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed Lebanese Shiite militia. Within three weeks it complained of 52 victims in its ranks. There are 70 of them in Lebanon, including civilians.
This escalation led to a wave of expatriate exodus in Lebanon and recommendations for the evacuation of several embassies. Canada initially advised its citizens to avoid all travel to Lebanon before asking its nationals to leave the country while commercial flights were maintained.
Lebanon has 17,000 Canadian citizens, the vast majority of whom hold dual citizenship. “Because registration for the service is voluntary, this number is unlikely to represent the total number of Canadians in Lebanon,” but Global Affairs Canada points out that it could be many more.
Most dual citizens were naturalized during the Lebanon War (1975-1990) and then during the 2006 war between Hezbollah and Israel. In total, 101,882 Lebanese received Canadian residency between 1975 and 2006, Statistics Canada data shows. As early as 1976, Canada – and Australia – introduced special programs that allowed Lebanese to obtain entry visas to the country on humanitarian grounds. A large number of them returned to Lebanon immediately after the end of the war.
PHOTO AGENCY FRANCE PRESS
Smoke rises from a village near Tire in southern Lebanon after an Israeli attack on Friday.
“My life is here, my family too”
Fatima Elie Eljamal scrolls He chats with his mother on his phone. “She’s worried, of course, but she trusts me. I keep you updated on the situation every day. » The young Lebanese-Canadian photographer, aged 30, spent most of her life in Canada before deciding to return to her Lebanese roots a few years ago. After careful consideration, she will not return to Canada.
I have already mentally prepared myself for the possibility of war here. And I made a list of things to keep in my home in case that happened.
Fatima Elie Eljamal
In a café in the Jal el Dib district in the north of the city, Tarek Zard is talking on the phone while puffing on a hookah. It is preparing to launch a new mobile application in the coming days. Business has not come to a standstill. “In Lebanon we are used to this kind of insecurity. It is a country where there are always ups and downs, but whatever happens, people move forward. Do you know many countries that have had to go through COVID, an economic crisis, the Beirut port explosion and a war on the border in four years? »
PHOTO HUGO LAUTISSIER, SPECIAL COLLABORATION
“My life is here, my family too,” says Tarek Zard, 38, who was born in Canada.
He was born in Canada and lived there during his studies between 2003 and 2009. “I am aware that in Lebanon it is an opportunity to have multiple nationalities. But I don’t think I will go under the current circumstances. My life is here, so is my family,” explains this father, whose two children have triple citizenship: Canadian, French and Lebanese.
Escape, but how?
Since the border with Israel is closed and the border with Syria is dangerous, if the airport is bombed, the only way to escape the country is by sea. In 2006, considerable efforts were made to expel foreigners. The Canadian government evacuated 14,039 people by sea from Lebanon to Cyprus and Turkey using 35 ships. The then Foreign Secretary Peter MacKay described this as “by far the largest operation”. […] never organized or attempted in the history of Canada.
Given fears that such a scenario could repeat itself, precautions have already been taken. A force headquarters has been established in Cyprus from which Canadian Armed Forces planners and liaison staff work with Global Affairs Canada to ensure the safety of Canadians in the region.
“There are currently more than 300 members in the FAC [Forces armées canadiennes] deployed in addition to AMC personnel to support these efforts [Affaires mondiales Canada]from IRCC [Immigration, Réfugiés et Citoyenneté Canada] and the CBSA [Agence des services frontaliers du Canada]. This includes the CC-150 Polaris aircraft that supported departures from Israel and will remain in the region,” explains Canadian National Defense.
Learn more
There are currently 300 members of the Canadian Armed Forces deployed in Lebanon in the event of an evacuation of Canadians
Canadian Armed Forces
CAN 96 million in expenses related to the evacuation of Canadians from Lebanon in 2006
November 2006 Economic and Financial Update from the Ministry of Finance