TORONTO —
As the Canadian Armed Forces land in Afghanistan to assist in getting Canadians, Afghans and their families out of the country, friends and relatives in Canada are distressed at the escalating chaos and frustrated by Ottawa’s efforts.
Maryam Sahar, a former interpreter with the Canadian Armed Forces who has not seen her family in a decade, says she has not had communication with them since they went into hiding five days earlier and is worried for their safety.
“I do not want to hear the news that my family will be executed, my colleagues who I worked with in Kandahar, the interpreters, [that] their families will be executed,” Sahar told CTV News Channel’s Power Play on Thursday.
Tens of thousands of Afghan interpreters worked for Canadian, U.S. and other allies during the war in Afghanistan, and many are worried they will be targeted and killed by the Taliban. Sahar says the Canadian government had the opportunity weeks ago to get interpreters out and delivered a very personal and direct message to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for his failure to do so.
“If my family get executed or any other family get executed, know that you have their blood on your hands,” she said.
“The only person who is going to be responsible for the murder, merciless murder of the interpreters in Afghanistan, that will be only — and only — the leader of this country and that’s going to be Justin Trudeau.”
Retired Maj.-Gen. Dean Milner, the last task force commander of Canada’s mission in Afghanistan, formed close bonds on the battlefield with Afghan interpreters and military officials.
“They are great people. I want to see every single one of the interpreters on a flight. We should not be giving in,” he said.
Earlier this summer, Canadian veterans began sounding the alarm after witnessing the speed with which the Taliban was taking over many parts of the country. They urged Ottawa to move quickly to get former Afghan interpreters and advisors out and resettled in Canada.
Now it is too late, Sahar says, adding how “heartbreaking” it was to see Canada able to close their embassy and get their diplomats out so quickly, while leaving interpreters behind. She has friends desperate to get out, she says, but are now trapped, with no one responding to their pleas for help.
“That’s literally leaving your allies behind and my family is one of them, hiding in Kabul,” she said.
“Everything collapsed … people are in hiding, they will not be able to make it to the airports, their passports are expired, the passport offices are closed.”
Trudeau put the blame on Taliban checkpoints for the slow pace of evacuation, rather than bureaucratic red tape and a lack of responsiveness from immigration officials.
“We just need people to be able to get to the airport right now. The Taliban are preventing them from doing so, which is why we’ve seen a number of the planes airlifting people out have not been full,” he said on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the Taliban’s promise to not seek revenge, to respect women’s rights and press freedom has been met with broad skepticism from political leaders and locals alike, with reports of violence belying their words.
“I do not trust a word that they are saying, because in Afghanistan, the mentality is when you’re associated with the infidel, you’re associated with it forever,” Sahar said.
“We were the ears and eyes of the military but we took the risks because we were working for a peaceful Afghanistan. We trusted the mission.”
Despite having personnel on the ground now and an aircraft ready to bring people to safety, Trudeau acknowledged on Thursday it was going to be “almost impossible” to get as many people as they want out of the country.
CTV News obtained a message informing some Afghans on the evacuation list that they had a spot on a flight out of Kabul, but the message does not offer any information on where or how to access the airport.
“If you arrive at the airport perimeter and are initially turned away, please remain in the area and attempt again,” the message says.
Sahar described Canada as generous and compassionate, and that she has benefited from that.
“As a new Canadian citizen, it’s very heartbreaking to see that my new country’s values are not represented the way it should be represented.”
With files from CTV National News’ Genevieve Beauchemin and The Canadian Press
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.
