OTTAWA —
The federal government says it has tightened rules for Russian aircraft after a commercial airliner was able to circumvent a ban on entering Canadian airspace late last month by falsely claiming to be a humanitarian flight.
Aeroflot Flight 111 was allowed to traverse Canadian airspace en route from Miami to Moscow on Feb. 27 despite Ottawa having banned all Russian aircraft earlier that day in retaliation for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Officials have previously said Aeroflot 111 was allowed into Canadian airspace because it had registered as a humanitarian flight, a designation that Transport Canada’s head of civil aviation suggested on Monday was deliberately falsified.
While the department is continuing to investigate, Nicholas Robinson told the House of Commons transport committee that officials believed Aeroflot used the humanitarian designation to “circumvent” Canada’s flight ban.
“Humanitarian flights are for emergency purposes,” Robinson said.
“And in this instance, we don’t see that. This action by Aeroflot is one that we’re continuing to investigate and have a great deal of disappointment in.”
The decision to let Aeroflot 111 into Canadian airspace because of its humanitarian designation appears to have been the result of confusion between the Liberal government and Nav Canada, which oversees air-traffic control across the country.
Transport Minister Omar Alghabra told committee members that the government’s decision to close Canadian airspace to Russian flights did not include any exemptions for humanitarian flights.
“So that’s why there’s an ongoing investigation about what happened and how it happened,” Alghabra said. “I’ve had conversations with Nav Canada about this.”
But Nav Canada vice-president Ben Girard testified that officials followed the organization’s existing regulations of allowing all humanitarian flights into Canadian airspace, which he said was confirmed in an investigation.
“We were found that we did everything in compliance with published regulations and procedures, and the authority that we had at the time,” he said.
It was only later, Girard said, that the ban was “clarified” to include humanitarian flights from Russia.
“The first (notice) did not have any indication of how to proceed with humanitarian flights,” he said in French. “But since that time, as you say, the (notice) has been clarified.”
Girard also revealed that Nav Canada has no actual power to stop Russian flights from entering Canadian airspace. Rather, violations are reported to Transport Canada, which works with police and the military to respond.
Committee members also heard that about 140 Russian flights were traversing Canadian airspace each week before the government’s ban, with 55 flights rerouted around Canada between Feb. 28 and March 7.
About 75 vessels have also been affected by the closure of Canadian waters to Russian-owned and Russian-flagged ships.
Meanwhile, Alghabra acknowledged that Air Canada and other carriers are dealing with higher costs and longer routes to Asian destinations such as India and South Korea as a result of Russia’s retaliatory closure of its own airspace to Canadian aircraft.
“They’ve had to reroute many or all of their flights that typically would fly over Russia,” he said. “So, for example, direct flights to India now are going through Europe, namely Ireland. And that is adding a little bit extra time and extra cost.”
But he suggested airlines and travellers are overwhelmingly supportive of Canada’s ban on Russian aircraft as part of its effort to punish Moscow over its decision to invade Ukraine.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 21, 2022.
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.
