Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said today the effort to airlift those fleeing Afghanistan out of Kabul will end in the coming days, with a government source confirming to CBC News that last Canadian-operated flight out of the Kabul airport is expected to leave on Thursday.
Earlier today, another government source told CBC News that Canada could have just 24 to 48 hours to get planes in and out of the capital.
The source — who has knowledge of the mission but wasn’t authorized to speak publicly — said only a limited number of flights remain for Canada’s military and they’re running against the clock.”Yes, in the coming days this phase will end,” Trudeau told reporters while campaigning today.
“But there’s a lot more work to do that we will continue to do to keep helping the Afghan people.”
The Thursday departure date was first reported by the Globe and Mail.
In a statement Wednesday evening, the Department of National Defence declined to comment “exactly when the civilian airlift will cease for reasons of operational security.”
“The Canadian Armed Forces will continue working hard to evacuate as many people as possible for as long as conditions permit,” the DND statement said.
Earlier Wednesday during a media briefing, Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan would not comment on how much time is left. He said things are moving quickly on the ground.
WATCH | Sajjan offers update on situation in Kabul:
Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan provides update on evacuation mission in Afghanistan
9 hours ago
Sajjan says Canadian Armed Forces working hard to get as many Afghans to safety as possible. 1:53
“The situation is changing literally by the hour. I’ll be getting a detailed briefing shortly on the withdrawal plan but one thing I can assure you, we will continue to bring out as many Afghans as possible,” he told reporters.
“As the Americans draw down to meet their deadline, partner nations, including Canada, must draw down our troops, assets and aircraft ahead of the Americans. These moves are necessary for the U.S. to safely maintain control of the airport until they depart.”
Allies are up against similar deadlines. U.K. Defence Minister Ben Wallace said the evacuation effort is “down to hours now, not weeks.”
Tens of thousands of Afghans fearing persecution under the Taliban, which swept to power in recent days, have rushed to Kabul’s airport hoping to escape the country.
It’s like leaving the mouse in the mouth of the lion.– Former Afghan interpreter
Earlier this week, the government said Canada’s special forces are working outside the security zone of the Kabul airport to identify and bring Canadian citizens and eligible Afghan nationals and their families through the security gates to waiting aircraft.
But many advocacy groups and people on the ground have reported problems with reaching officials and have criticized the government for not acting sooner.
One Afghan interpreter who worked for Canada’s military said the the Taliban blocked him from getting onto a military plane and beat him up. CBC News is protecting his identity because he fears for his security and the safety of his three children and pregnant wife.
“They made us wait for two hours then said, ‘You are not allowed to go inside.’ They have plastic pipes and wooden sticks. They just beat you like a stone with a hammer,” he said.
“It’s like leaving the mouse in the mouth of the lion.”
He said the military needs to send buses to escort families like his to the airport. He fears it may already be too late.
“I just count my days until I’m dead.”
Immigration Minister Marco Mendicino said that as of Aug. 24, Canada had airlifted more than 2,700 people out of Kabul, including Afghan refugees, Canadian citizens, permanent residents and other foreign nationals.
Canada has struck an air-bridge agreement with other countries that allows people bound for Canada to catch rides out of Kabul on allied aircraft while Canada steps up in the same fashion.
In Kabul, our <a href=”https://twitter.com/CanadianForces?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>@CanadianForces</a> are saving lives. <br><br>Yesterday, a <a href=”https://twitter.com/RCAF_ARC?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>@RCAF_ARC</a> flight evacuated 506 people from Afghanistan – many of whom are now on their way to their new home in Canada. I know that Canadians will welcome them as we always do.<a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/WelcomeToCanada?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#WelcomeToCanada</a> ???????? <a href=”https://t.co/rA38Chn3In”>pic.twitter.com/rA38Chn3In</a>
Mendicino said today that close to 1,000 Afghans have arrived in Canada and over 300 have now finished quarantine.
“We are now going to be moving into the next phase of this operation, which is to provide support to Afghans after the coalition withdraws,” he said.
Canada has so far evacuated more people out of Afghanistan than 10 other countries, including Spain, Belgium, Italy and the Netherlands, according to the Immigration Minister’s office’s tracking numbers, which are based on media stories.
The White House says the airlift overall has flown out 82,300 Afghans, Americans and others on a mix of U.S., international and private flights. Britain said on Wednesday it has evacuated more than 11,000 people from Afghanistan.
WATCH | O’Toole says Trudeau has ‘abandoned’ people in Afghanistan:
O’Toole says Trudeau has ‘abandoned’ people in Afghanistan
8 hours ago
Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole says Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau has abandoned people in Afghanistan — but isn’t saying exactly what he would have done differently. 1:46
Just yesterday, following a virtual G7 meeting, Trudeau said Canada will remain in Afghanistan beyond the Aug. 31 date to help evacuate more Canadians and eligible Afghans — as long as the security situation permits.
“I emphasized that Canada is ready to stay beyond the 31st deadline, if it’s at all possible, because we want to save as many people as possible and Canadians are ready to work to try and do that,” he said.
A PMO spokesperson later clarified that the prospect of Canadian Forces’ remaining in Kabul beyond the end of the month depends on the extension of the U.S. military presence, and that Canada would not remain in Afghanistan after the U.S. pulled out its troops.
“The international community has a few very clear expectations and demands of the Taliban if they want to be even engaged with constructively and positively, whether it’s financially, whether it’s in terms of food security, whether it’s plenty of things that are needed in order to set up a functional society that they have just taken by violence,” he said.
Today, Maryam Monsef, the minister for women and gender equality, made a direct appeal to the Taliban to allow Canada to evacuate people safely.
“I want to take this opportunity to speak to our brothers the Taliban. We call on you to ensure the safe and secure passage of any individual in Afghanistan out of the country,” she said.
After fielding more questions, she said her use of the word “brothers” was a cultural reference.
WATCH | Maryam Monsef calls on Taliban ‘brothers’ to permit Afghans to evacuate:
Maryam Monsef calls on Taliban ‘brothers’ to allow safe passage to people fleeing Afghanistan
5 hours ago
Monsef, the Liberals’ minister for women and gender equality, says Muslims often refer to each other as ‘brother’ or ‘sister’ but she still views the Taliban as a terrorist organization. 1:14
“Muslims refer to one another as brother and sisters,” said Monsef, who fled the Taliban with her widowed mother and two younger sisters in the 1990s.
“But let me be very clear, we do not support the Taliban, we are horrified that the hard won gains of the past 20 years are at stake like this and being eroded like this.”
Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole said the “language used by the Trudeau government is completely unacceptable.”
“I would never abandon people as Mr. Trudeau has,” he said in Brampton, Ont. today. “We had months to act when it would have been much less of a risk to operate.”
WATCH | Singh says ‘it looks like Canada has failed’ its Afghan allies:
Singh says ‘it looks like Canada has failed’ its Afghan allies
10 hours ago
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh says Canada needs to do everything it can to get its allies out of Afghanistan. 1:32
When asked what he would have done differently, the Conservative leader said he would work with the Canadian Armed Forces and allies.
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh said Canada should not recognize the Taliban.
“When it comes to our relationship with Taliban, I am very firm on this is a terrorist organization that we should not be dealing with,” he said during a campaign stop in Windsor, Ont.
“We should not be recognizing but we need to do everything we can to secure the release of our allies.”
Watch | Retired journalist Kevin Newman says Afghans have virtually no way to get into Kabul airport:
‘There is virtually no way to get into the [Kabul] airport’: Retired journalist on Afghan evacuations
2 hours ago
Retired journalist Kevin Newman, who is actively involved in the humanitarian effort to get eligible Afghans out of Afghanistan, told Power & Politics Wednesday that he doesn’t have much hope that Canada will be able to move a significant number of Afghans out of the country in the next 24-28 hours. 7:15
MONCTON, N.B. – New Brunswick RCMP say two youths have been arrested after an emergency alert was issued Monday evening about someone carrying a gun in the province’s southeast.
Caledonia Region Mounties say they were first called out to Main Street in the community of Salisbury around 7 p.m. on reports of a shooting.
A 48-year-old man was found at the scene suffering from gunshot wounds and he was rushed to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
Police say in the interest of public safety, they issued an Alert Ready message at 8:15 p.m. for someone driving a silver Ford F-150 pickup truck and reportedly carrying a firearm with dangerous intent in the Salisbury and Moncton area.
Two youths were arrested without incident later in the evening in Salisbury, and the alert was cancelled just after midnight Tuesday.
Police are still looking for the silver pickup truck, covered in mud, with possible Nova Scotia licence plate HDC 958. They now confirm the truck was stolen from Central Blissville.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024.
MISSISSAUGA, Ont. – Golf Canada has set an impressive stretch goal of having 30 professional golfers at the highest levels of the sport by 2032.
The World Junior Girls Golf Championship is a huge part of that target.
Credit Valley Golf and Country Club will host the international tournament from Sept. 30 to Oct. 5, with 24 teams representing 23 nations — Canada gets two squads — competing. Lindsay McGrath, a 17-year-old golfer from Oakville, Ont., said she’s excited to be representing Canada and continue to develop her game.
“I’m really grateful to be here,” said McGrath on Monday after a news conference in Credit Valley’s clubhouse in Mississauga, Ont. “It’s just such an awesome feeling being here and representing our country, wearing all the logos and being on Team Canada.
“I’ve always wanted to play in this tournament, so it’s really special to me.”
McGrath will be joined by Nobelle Park of Oakville, Ont., and Eileen Park of Red Deer, Alta., on Team Canada 2. All three earned their places through a qualifying tournament last month.
“I love my teammates so much,” said McGrath. “I know Nobelle and Eileen very well. I’m just so excited to be with them. We have such a great relationship.”
Shauna Liu of Maple, Ont., Calgary’s Aphrodite Deng and Clairey Lin make up Team Canada 2. Liu earned her exemption following her win at the 2024 Canadian Junior Girls Championship while Deng earned her exemption as being the low eligible Canadian on the world amateur golf ranking as of Aug. 7.
Deng was No. 175 at the time, she has since improved to No. 171 and is Canada’s lowest-ranked player.
“I think it’s a really great opportunity,” said Liu. “We don’t really get that many opportunities to play with people from across the world, so it’s really great to meet new people and play with them.
“It’s great to see maybe how they play and take parts from their game that we might also implement our own games.”
Golf Canada founded the World Junior Girls Golf Championship in 2014 to fill a void in women’s international competition and help grow its own homegrown talent. The hosts won for the first time last year when Vancouver’s Anna Huang, Toronto’s Vanessa Borovilos and Vancouver’s Vanessa Zhang won team gold and Huang earned individual silver.
Medallists who have gone on to win on the LPGA Tour include Brooke Henderson of Smiths Falls, Ont., who was fourth in the individual competition at the inaugural tournament. She was on Canada’s bronze-medal team in 2014 with Selena Costabile of Thornhill, Ont., and Calgary’s Jaclyn Lee.
Other notable competitors who went on to become LPGA Tour winners include Angel Yin and Megan Khang of the United States, as well as Yuka Saso of the Philippines, Sweden’s Linn Grant and Atthaya Thitikul of Thailand.
“It’s not if, it’s when they’re going to be on the LPGA Tour,” said Garrett Ball, Golf Canada’s chief operating officer, of how Canada’s golfers in the World Junior Girls Championship can be part of the organization’s goal to have 30 pros in the LPGA and PGA Tours by 2032.
“Events like this, like the She Plays Golf festival that we launched two years ago, and then the CPKC Women’s Open exemptions that we utilize to bring in our national team athletes and get the experience has been important in that pathway.”
The individual winner of the World Junior Girls Golf Championship will earn a berth in next year’s CPKC Women’s Open at nearby Mississaugua Golf and Country Club.
Both clubs, as well as former RBC Canadian Open host site Glen Abbey Golf Club, were devastated by heavy rains through June and July as the Greater Toronto Area had its wettest summer in recorded history.
Jason Hanna, the chief operating officer of Credit Valley Golf and Country Club, said that he has seen the Credit River flood so badly that it affected the course’s playability a handful of times over his nearly two decades with the club.
Staff and members alike came together to clean up the course after the flooding was over, with hundreds of people coming together to make the club playable again.
“You had to show up, bring your own rake, bring your own shovel, bring your own gloves, and then we’d take them down to the golf course, assign them to areas where they would work, and then we would do a big barbecue down at the halfway house,” said Hanna. “We got guys, like, 80 years old, putting in eight-hour days down there, working away.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024.
NEW YORK (AP) — Fenway Park has the Ted Williams seat. And now Citi Field has the Grimace seat.
The kid-friendly McDonald’s character made another appearance at the ballpark Monday, when the New York Mets unveiled a commemorative purple seat in section 302 to honor “his special connection to Mets fans.”
Wearing his pear-shaped purple costume and a baseball glove on backwards, Grimace threw out a funny-looking first pitch — as best he could with those furry fingers and short arms — before New York beat the Miami Marlins at Citi Field on June 12.
That victory began a seven-game winning streak, and Grimace the Mets’ good-luck charm soon went viral, taking on a life of its own online.
New York is 53-31 since June 12, the best record in the majors during that span. The Mets were tied with rival Atlanta for the last National League playoff spot as they opened their final homestand of the season Monday night against Washington.
The new Grimace seat in the second deck in right field — located in row 6, seat 12 to signify 6/12 on the calendar — was brought into the Shannon Forde press conference room Monday afternoon. The character posed next to the chair and with fans who strolled into the room.
The seat is available for purchase for each of the Mets’ remaining home games.
“It’s been great to see how our fanbase created the Grimace phenomenon following his first pitch in June and in the months since,” Mets senior vice president of partnerships Brenden Mallette said in a news release. “As we explored how to further capture the magic of this moment and celebrate our new celebrity fan, installing a commemorative seat ahead of fan appreciation weekend felt like the perfect way to give something back to the fans in a fun and unique way.”
Up in Boston, the famous Ted Williams seat is painted bright red among rows of green chairs deep in the right-field stands at Fenway Park to mark where a reported 502-foot homer hit by the Hall of Fame slugger landed in June 1946.
So, does this catapult Grimace into Splendid Splinter territory?
“I don’t know if we put him on the same level,” Mets executive vice president and chief marketing officer Andy Goldberg said with a grin.
“It’s just been a fun year, and at the same time, we’ve been playing great ball. Ever since the end of May, we have been crushing it,” he explained. “So I think that added to the mystique.”
