by James Metcalfe – Pace Law Firm: Over the past five years I, together with my colleagues Marwa Badra and Gerry Weiner, a former Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, have traveled to Egypt on a regular basis to meet with prospective immigrants to Canada. We have been welcomed into people’s homes and have enjoyed the generous hospitality of our new friends. The recent events in Egypt come as a shock in the way the situation has developed. We wish the people of Egypt a safe return to normalcy in the near future. We have received many inquiries from Egyptians in many countries regarding their desire to come to Canada.

In the absence of any official announcement by the Government of Canada, we presume that the Canadian Embassy in Cairo has ceased functioning in a normal manner. In crises, Canadian Embassies send non-essential Canadian staff out of the country together with all dependents. Local staff will be unable to make it to the Cairo embassy, which is located in the downtown core.

The first priority of the Embassy will be the evacuation of Canadian Citizens and their dependents, whether they are Canadian Citizens or not. The visa section of the Embassy will not be issuing any visas or responding to any inquiries due to the situation, and in all likelihood will not do so until order is restored.

In the past, the Canadian Government has implemented special programs to reunite family members with their relatives in Canada. No such program has been launched and until the situation has been resolved, no announcement can be expected.

We would invite readers to post their questions and observations on this site. We will respond in a frank and forthright manner to as many questions as we can.