Plans for King Charles III’s first tour of Canada as head of state are on hold following his cancer diagnosis, CBC News has learned.
Although the visit was never confirmed officially by Buckingham Palace, Canadian government sources told CBC News King Charles III and Queen Camilla were set to visit in May 2024. The planned tour also has been reported on by British media.
Earlier this month, Buckingham Palace said medical staff found a form of cancer when the 75-year-old King went through a hospital procedure for benign prostate enlargement, and said he had commenced a schedule of regular treatments.
In the statement, the Palace didn’t specify the type of cancer detected or the treatment the King is receiving. It said the King “remains wholly positive about his treatment and looks forward to returning to full public duty as soon as possible.”
In a response to a CBC News access to information request, a Canadian official wrote that “following the announcement of a cancer diagnosis for His Majesty the King, there are no more tours planned in Canada for 2024, nor are there any tours planned with other members of the Royal Family.”
Sources who are not authorized to speak publicly have told CBC News that planning for the royal visit has been postponed.
Buckingham Palace did not respond to a request for comment.
Because no tours were announced publicly, the Royal Family won’t have to cancel anything publicly, said royal commentator and author Victoria Murphy.
“There’s no doubt there were things in the planning discussions behind the scenes that have now been paused because of this diagnosis,” she said in an interview with CBC News on Monday.
The King, who was crowned last May, hasn’t travelled to many Commonwealth countries since his coronation.
As King, he has travelled to Germany, Romania, France, Kenya and, most recently, the United Arab Emirates for the 2023 United Nations Climate Change Conference.
“I would’ve expected that this year, the king would’ve done, in normal circumstances, quite a bit of overseas travels,” said Murphy. “Everything has shifted now because of this diagnosis.”
His last trip to Canada was in May 2022, when he visited Newfoundland, Ottawa and the Northwest Territories. During that visit, then-Assembly of First Nations national chief RoseAnne Archibald called on the Queen to apologize for the Crown’s “ongoing failure to fulfil its treaty agreements” with Indigenous peoples.
Archibald told reporters that Charles listened to the request and was “very empathetic.”
Canada divided over cutting ties with the Crown
A poll conducted shortly before the King’s coronation showed Canadians are divided about whether the country should remain tied to the Crown.
A Leger survey of 1,544 Canadians found 56 per cent of respondents agreed the country should “reconsider its ties” to the monarchy now that there’s a new sovereign.
It also found that 67 per cent of respondents felt “indifferent” to Charles’s new role. Only 12 per cent said it’s “good news.”
About 80 per cent of respondents said they’re not “personally attached” to the monarchy.
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 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.
