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Dominican Republic: Detained airline worker from Canada speaks out – CTV News

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A Canadian airline worker who has been trapped in the Dominican Republic for two months after alerting authorities to narcotics found on his plane says he was subjected to unsafe and unsanitary conditions while spending nine days in jail.

BK Dubey, a maintenance engineer for the Ontario-based charter operator Pivot Airlines, said he was doing his maintenance checks on aboard a Toronto-bound aircraft on the ground at Punta Cana International Airport on April 5 when he came across a suspicious bag inside the avionics bay.

That suspicious package turned out to be 200 kilograms of cocaine. Dubey immediately reported the suspicious bag to the captain and likely averted an air disaster, because the bags were flammable and the weight would have been detrimental to the flight.

“That’s our normal duty in Canadian or international law. That’s our duty to check the plane and report if you’ve found any suspicious thing,” the 24-year airline industry veteran told CTV News while speaking from a secure location in the Dominican Republic.

But when Dominican authorities arrived, Dubey didn’t get any thanks for reporting the drugs. Instead, he and the four other Pivot Airlines crew along with seven passengers were arrested and detained, with police accusing them of smuggling the drugs.

For nine days, Dubey was detained in a detention facility meant for narcotics criminals that he said had no toilet, with guards that refused to give him food or water unless he paid them money.

“The cell was not for humans to live,” he said. “And we were just praying to God every day, just to pray to get out of that hell.”

After their employer mounted a significant legal battle, Dubey, the rest of the Pivot crew and the passengers were released from detention but required to stay in the Dominican Republic, where they still remain. Since their release, they have been subject to death threats and Pivot has had to retain security and take extraordinary measures to ensure their safety.

Pivot, as well as the three unions representing airline pilots and crews in Canada, have been urging the Canadian government to do everything it can to bring the crew and passengers back home.

“It is entirely unacceptable that our members have been thrown in jail for doing their jobs, and dutifully reporting a crime,” Capt. Tim Perry, President of Air Line Pilots Association Canada, said in a May 16 news release. “We are urging the Canadian government to take serious action and help bring our crew home.”

Pivot is also urging travellers to avoid visiting the Dominican Republic and consider making alternative travel plans. Last month, the company warned that the crew and the passengers were at risk of being sent back to jail.

Dubey said officials from the Canadian government have been helping him. At the time of his arrest, he said he had been in the process of getting his Canadian citizenship, but last week, he took his citizenship oath at the Canadian Embassy.

“I’m really thankful for what they are doing. I’m not saying they’re not doing enough, but we need to do more. It’s been two months. I need to go home. I want to go meet my family,” he said.

Despite his ordeal, Dubey said he doesn’t regret reporting the narcotics.

“We did what was best for Canadians. We did what was best for Canada — stopped 200 kilograms of poison going into Canada. That’s what we did,” he said. “For me, the nine days was the worst in my entire life … but if I find (drugs) again, I’ll again report and help the law system to not let any of this poison into Canada.”

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Canada’s Denis Shapovalov wins Belgrade Open for his second ATP Tour title

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BELGRADE, Serbia – Canada’s Denis Shapovalov is back in the winner’s circle.

The 25-year-old Shapovalov beat Serbia’s Hamad Medjedovic 6-4, 6-4 in the Belgrade Open final on Saturday.

It’s Shapovalov’s second ATP Tour title after winning the Stockholm Open in 2019. He is the first Canadian to win an ATP Tour-level title this season.

His last appearance in a tournament final was in Vienna in 2022.

Shapovalov missed the second half of last season due to injury and spent most of this year regaining his best level of play.

He came through qualifying in Belgrade and dropped just one set on his way to winning the trophy.

Shapovalov’s best results this season were at ATP 500 events in Washington and Basel, where he reached the quarterfinals.

Medjedovic was playing in his first-ever ATP Tour final.

The 21-year-old, who won the Next Gen ATP Finals presented by PIF title last year, ends 2024 holding a 9-8 tour-level record on the season.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.



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Talks to resume in B.C. port dispute in bid to end multi-day lockout

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VANCOUVER – Contract negotiations resume today in Vancouver in a labour dispute that has paralyzed container cargo shipping at British Columbia’s ports since Monday.

The BC Maritime Employers Association and International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 514 are scheduled to meet for the next three days in mediated talks to try to break a deadlock in negotiations.

The union, which represents more than 700 longshore supervisors at ports, including Vancouver, Prince Rupert and Nanaimo, has been without a contract since March last year.

The latest talks come after employers locked out workers in response to what it said was “strike activity” by union members.

The start of the lockout was then followed by several days of no engagement between the two parties, prompting federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon to speak with leaders on both sides, asking them to restart talks.

MacKinnon had said that the talks were “progressing at an insufficient pace, indicating a concerning absence of urgency from the parties involved” — a sentiment echoed by several business groups across Canada.

In a joint letter, more than 100 organizations, including the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, Business Council of Canada and associations representing industries from automotive and fertilizer to retail and mining, urged the government to do whatever it takes to end the work stoppage.

“While we acknowledge efforts to continue with mediation, parties have not been able to come to a negotiated agreement,” the letter says. “So, the federal government must take decisive action, using every tool at its disposal to resolve this dispute and limit the damage caused by this disruption.

“We simply cannot afford to once again put Canadian businesses at risk, which in turn puts Canadian livelihoods at risk.”

In the meantime, the union says it has filed a complaint to the Canada Industrial Relations Board against the employers, alleging the association threatened to pull existing conditions out of the last contract in direct contact with its members.

“The BCMEA is trying to undermine the union by attempting to turn members against its democratically elected leadership and bargaining committee — despite the fact that the BCMEA knows full well we received a 96 per cent mandate to take job action if needed,” union president Frank Morena said in a statement.

The employers have responded by calling the complaint “another meritless claim,” adding the final offer to the union that includes a 19.2 per cent wage increase over a four-year term remains on the table.

“The final offer has been on the table for over a week and represents a fair and balanced proposal for employees, and if accepted would end this dispute,” the employers’ statement says. “The offer does not require any concessions from the union.”

The union says the offer does not address the key issue of staffing requirement at the terminals as the port introduces more automation to cargo loading and unloading, which could potentially require fewer workers to operate than older systems.

The Port of Vancouver is the largest in Canada and has seen a number of labour disruptions, including two instances involving the rail and grain storage sectors earlier this year.

A 13-day strike by another group of workers at the port last year resulted in the disruption of a significant amount of shipping and trade.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.



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The Royal Canadian Legion turns to Amazon for annual poppy campaign boost

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The Royal Canadian Legion says a new partnership with e-commerce giant Amazon is helping boost its veterans’ fund, and will hopefully expand its donor base in the digital world.

Since the Oct. 25 launch of its Amazon.ca storefront, the legion says it has received nearly 10,000 orders for poppies.

Online shoppers can order lapel poppies on Amazon in exchange for donations or buy items such as “We Remember” lawn signs, Remembrance Day pins and other accessories, with all proceeds going to the legion’s Poppy Trust Fund for Canadian veterans and their families.

Nujma Bond, the legion’s national spokesperson, said the organization sees this move as keeping up with modern purchasing habits.

“As the world around us evolves we have been looking at different ways to distribute poppies and to make it easier for people to access them,” she said in an interview.

“This is definitely a way to reach a wider number of Canadians of all ages. And certainly younger Canadians are much more active on the web, on social media in general, so we’re also engaging in that way.”

Al Plume, a member of a legion branch in Trenton, Ont., said the online store can also help with outreach to veterans who are far from home.

“For veterans that are overseas and are away, (or) can’t get to a store they can order them online, it’s Amazon.” Plume said.

Plume spent 35 years in the military with the Royal Engineers, and retired eight years ago. He said making sure veterans are looked after is his passion.

“I’ve seen the struggles that our veterans have had with Veterans Affairs … and that’s why I got involved, with making sure that the people get to them and help the veterans with their paperwork.”

But the message about the Amazon storefront didn’t appear to reach all of the legion’s locations, with volunteers at Branch 179 on Vancouver’s Commercial Drive saying they hadn’t heard about the online push.

Holly Paddon, the branch’s poppy campaign co-ordinator and bartender, said the Amazon partnership never came up in meetings with other legion volunteers and officials.

“I work at the legion, I work with the Vancouver poppy office and I go to the meetings for the Vancouver poppy campaign — which includes all the legions in Vancouver — and not once has this been mentioned,” she said.

Paddon said the initiative is a great idea, but she would like to have known more about it.

The legion also sells a larger collection of items at poppystore.ca.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.



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