Canada launches programme to get citizens out of violence-hit Haiti | Politics News [Video]

Canada has launched a programme to get its citizens out of Haiti, as the Caribbean nation grapples with a surge in gang violence, political instability and a widening humanitarian crisis.

Speaking to reporters in Ottawa, Foreign Minister Melanie Joly said on Monday that her government would assist “the most vulnerable Canadians” in leaving Haiti for the neighbouring Dominican Republic.

This includes Canadian citizens with medical conditions or those who have children, Joly said.

“At present, the Dominican Republic has strict [eligibility] requirements for all those entering the country. Only Canadian citizens who have a valid Canadian passport will be eligible for this assisted departure,” she told reporters.

Joly said 18 Canadian citizens had left Haiti via the programme on Monday.

Canada is home to nearly 180,000 people of Haitian descent, and Haitian Canadians had called on the government to do more to help their relatives stuck in Haiti amid a weeks-long surge in deadly violence.

In early March, armed gangs launched attacks on police stations, prisons and other …