Foreign Affairs committee  In general terms, the question of whether or not Canadians are allowed on flights is something that actually my CBSA colleague could speak to a bit more, but in terms of Canadians who find themselves generally in distress, they can always come to any of our missions, or, as Mr. Roué pointed out, they can get in contact with us through a variety of communications to ask for our assistance.

Foreign Affairs committee  Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. I think one of the most important tasks that consular officers abroad perform is this delicate balance between assistance and identifying Canadians as Canadians. As my colleague from CBSA has noted, there is an increase in the use of fraudulent documents.

Foreign Affairs committee  Thank you very much. Good morning, Mr. Chair. I am Patricia Fortier, the Director General of the Consular Operations Bureau in DFAIT. I am going to talk about what our bureau does. The consular operations bureau's mandate is to provide assistance to Canadians abroad on routine matters such as passport or citizenship applications and in distress cases such as hospitalization, death, or arrest.