The facilities are used to house travellers who did not procure a mandatory PCR COVID-19 test, do not have valid quarantine plans, and “unless exempted, all air travellers entering Canada will be required to take a COVID-19 molecular test on arrival, and book a 3-night stay in a hotel to await results,” the federal website reads.
The Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) operates the 11 designated hotel sites across the country, but to protect the privacy and safety of travellers, the sites are meant to be kept secret.
The PHAC says there have been 5,030 travellers lodged in the designated hotel sites since Jan. 24.
In order to qualify as a listed site, several prerequisites must be met – including close proximity to Canada’s major international airports, no contact meal delivery services, wireless internet and safe transport to shuttle travellers.
Despite the requests for secrecy, some travellers have been speaking out to CTV News about their stays in the federal isolation hotels – complaining about lack of communication and an environment of secrecy that made one person feel like he was staying in a “jail.”
Mitch Beaulieu landed at Calgary’s international airport after a business trip to Florida, and said he was put into a black van with tinted windows and taken to an undisclosed location.
“I was like… ‘Where am I going, why am I going there?’” Beaulieu told CTV News. “They were like, ‘We’ll tell you everything when you get there.’”
Beaulieu said that when he arrived at the isolation site he thought he “was being punked.”
“Where are the hidden cameras? I thought this was crazy,” he said. “I get out there and there was plastic all over, people walking around in…hazmat suits…it was like jail pretty much.”
Beaulieu said he eventually found out that he was quarantined because he did not have the right kind of COVID-19 test, and that he discovered where he was staying because he caught a glimpse of the building when he was leaving.
Since Jan. 7, all international passengers returning to Canada must show a negative COVID-19 test 72 hours prior to departure.
Another traveller, Angelo Vanegas, stayed at the same Calgary quarantine hotel as Beaulieu after returning from a personal trip to Mexico. Health officials had rejected his quarantine plan upon arrival and he was brought to the hotel to isolate.
Vanegas told CTV News he was allowed outside for “15 minutes a day,” but could not leave his room because of a toe infection, which he claims he had to fight to receive medical attention for.
“I had to beg them, I had to make threats that I was going to call 911 because they were not going to allow me to see the doctor,” Vanegas said.
He also alleged that he was warned by a nurse against telling anyone where he was, and that he could face a hefty fine for doing so.
A traveller who stayed in Toronto’s quarantine site said he did not experience any threats, but did agree that the stay was not necessarily a comfortable one.
“I wouldn’t say it was like a jail, but it was definitely a detention centre,” Steve Duesing told CTV News.
Duesing is now completing his quarantine at home after returning from a trip to North Carolina. He had to stay in the hotel because he took a rapid COVID-19 test, instead of the required PCR test.
“You got food, there was internet, so its not like it was a jail, it was still a hotel room, but definitely not a hotel experience,” Duesing said.
For now, those quarantining have been staying in the isolation sites free of charge, but Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said that will soon change, but no official date has been set for when travellers being picking up the bill.
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.
