Canada will deploy roughly 200 troops to help coordinate the evacuation of civilians from war-torn Sudan, Defence Minister Anita Anand confirmed Wednesday.
Ahead of question period in the House of Commons, Anand told a hastily assembled group of reporters that two C-130J Hercules transports are in east Africa preparing for flights into Khartoum “as soon as conditions on the ground permit.”
Global Affairs Canada says that up to 1,800 Canadians are trapped between the warring parties in Sudan and roughly 700 of them have indicated they want out.
Defence sources tell CBC News that a company of infantry soldiers from Camp Petawawa, Ont. is expected to be deployed to provide force protection and help coordinate the evacuation. An element of the 1st Canadian Division headquarters has also been sent to provide additional oversight and coordination.
Those troops will operate out of Jordan, said a senior federal official who spoke on background at a technical briefing in Ottawa.
Anand did not give a precise breakdown of the military contingent and it’s not clear whether the numbers she presented include the air detachment.
Anand also did not confirm the locations of the aircraft or where the troops are headed. Military flight tracker Steffan Watkins has data that shows the transport planes were last reported in the east African country of Djibouti.
Federal officials, speaking on background Wednesday, confirmed the presence of the aircraft in Dijibouti and said they’re accompanied by a small contingent of Canada’s special operations force.
Federal officials also said the Canadian frigate HMCS Montreal and the supply vessel MV Asterix are in the region and have moved into position with allied warships off the port of Sudan in anticipation of a possible seaborne evacuation.
Canadian officials said they’re focused on the air evacuation route because many evacuees would have to travel more than 800 kilometres to reach the port. The officials noted that a UN convoy had to pass through 22 checkpoints “through very dangerous terrain” to reach the port.
Anand said the movement of Canadian personnel and equipment is already underway.
“The Canadian Armed Forces is providing military assistance for Canada’s effort to evacuate Canadian eligible persons from Sudan. Canadian Armed Forces personnel and assets have been deployed to the region and are planning for evacuation operations in what remains a hostile and volatile security environment,” she told reporters.
Defence Minister Anita Anand says two C-130J aircraft are waiting for conditions on the ground to improve before beginning the evacuation. (The Canadian Press/Spencer Colby)
The minister would not say when actual evacuation operations will begin. Much seems to depend on how long the ceasefire between Sudan’s warring factions lasts.
“The conditions on the ground have to be right for Canadians to be evacuated via the Canadian aircraft,” Anand said, adding that the C-130s are ready to start taking passengers once conditions on the ground improve.
Anand said that means it has to be safe for the aircraft to land, and safe for Canadian evacuees to get to the military airport in Khartoum that has been used by other allied countries for their evacuations.
A federal official, speaking on background, said consular services are still being provided to Canadians through an emergency centre in Ottawa. They said they have been reaching out to people on the ground who have registered with the government.
The official stressed that there is “no guarantee of future evacuation plans past this week.”
The Sudanese Canadian Community Association has asked Ottawa for special immigration measures that would open the door to family members who are not Canadian citizens. They want something similar to what was offered to Afghans and Ukrainians who fled their countries.
Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly says the federal government is not ruling out special immigration measures for family members of Sudanese-Canadians. (Evan Mitsui/CBC)
Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly said it’s a possibility.
“All this is definitely something that the minister of immigration is considering right now, and so this is something that we will be looking at and working on,” Joly said early Wednesday.
Federal officials said that those on the evacuation flights out of Sudan itself will not be charged for the flights — but once they’re in a third country, evacuees maybe asked to shoulder the cost of flying back to Canada.
“If Canadians cannot afford … travel, they can discuss this with consular staff,” said a federal official. “The objective is to get people to a third country, then assessed on a case-by-case basis in terms of means.”
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.
