The Governor of Papua New Guinea's Eastern Highlands province is to hold a teleconference today with Canadian Immigration officials about revoking a travel ban on a group of PNG dancers.
Malcolm Smith-Kela helped organise a cultural exchange trip to Canada for the eight dancers earlier this month.
However, upon arrival at Vancouver airport, the dancers were separated from their Canadian escort and interrogated for six hours by customs officials.
The officials decided the dancers were in the country as migrant workers, not visitors as they claimed, and deported them with a one-year ban on visiting Canada.
Mr Smith-Kela, who last week vowed to make it tough for Canadian companies wanting to explore PNG resources, says the matter's been cleared up.
"The Canadian government's assisting now. They've been permitted to return to Canada and we're hoping to return to Canada this Friday. And that's with the generosity of a Canadian exploration company. Most Canadians I talk to are just deeply embarrassed by what's happened, and this is nothing to do with the Canadian government or the Canadian people - it's just the Canadian bureaucracy, it's just gone mad."
Malcolm Smith-Kela
