Dr Hilaire says Saint Lucia’s status has been updated this year and maintains its place as a country without high risk for the Canadian government.

“I want to refer to a news article which was published on Loop News today and it was said that Canada has issued a travel advisory for Saint Lucia…the simple truth is Mr Speaker, and I will officially inform Loop News, is that Canada has not issued a travel advisory against Saint Lucia,” the Tourism Minister said.

The Canadian Government publishes advice to its citizens for every country in the world. The advisories are ordered in four categories, with the least intense being “Take normal security precautions” and its colour is green. The most intense is “Avoid all travel” and it bears the colour red.

Saint Lucia sits at the least intense end of the spectrum at “Take normal security precautions” along with other countries like Grenada, Japan and the United States of America. Countries like North Korea, Gaza and Yemen are on the other end, “Avoid all travel.”

The Tourism Minister is urging citizens to explore the Canadian government’s website to confirm the advisory themselves.

“I ask any and every Saint Lucian to go on the website and they’ll see they provide advice to their citizens when travelling to other countries. Canada provides advice to their citizens. There are four levels of risk. Saint Lucia is in the lowest category, titled “Normal Security Precautions.” Simply, when you travel to Saint Lucia, you take normal precautions,” he said.

The United Workers’ Party, in a February 19th press release, said Saint Lucia has been placed on Canada’s travel advisory list. The UWP claimed the advisory was placed due to increasing crime in Saint Lucia.