Canada’s ambassador to Israel says she and the increased staff working at the embassy in Tel Aviv are “coping” amid rocket sirens, and remain focused on airlifting as many Canadians out of the country as possible over the next few days, while a way out for those in Gaza remains uncertain.
“We’re working through the list as fast as we can to get people assigned to flights,” ambassador Lisa Stadelbauer said in a Sunday interview with CTV’s Question Period host Vassy Kapelos. “Two more today, two more tomorrow, and then after that we’ll assess the need. We’ll keep rolling as long as the demand is there.”
Last weekend, Hamas militants attacked Israel and took hostages, leading to a barrage of retaliatory air strikes in Gaza. Thousands of people have been killed, injured, and displaced as a result of the ongoing war. So far, four Canadians have been confirmed dead, while three remain missing.
Canada began airlifting stranded citizens, their families and a small number of foreign nationals out of Tel Aviv on Thursday, and the military evacuations—using two CC-150 Polaris planes shuttling passengers to Athens—have continued through the weekend.
With two flights scheduled for Sunday, the ambassador estimates approximately 1,000 passengers will have been airlifted from the Ben Gurion International Airport by the end of the weekend. The latest Global Affairs Canada update as of Saturday evening indicated there are currently more than 6,806 Canadians registered in Israel with the Canadian government.
While the majority of the approximately 700 passengers transported so far have been Canadian citizens, they’ve also included some Israelis, Americans, Australians, Greeks and Brazilians, as federal officials have indicated a willingness to assist allied countries with evacuations if there was room aboard flights.
Stadelbauer said while hundreds more citizens have signalled an interest in an assisted departure as the Israel-Hamas war continues, the total number of Canadians that will be evacuated remains a moving target.
“We thought there was about 1,800 affected people all together, so that’s people who have signalled an interest. How that translates into people who show up at the airport, is a different story,” she said. “That explains partially why there’s some seats going vacant, because we think people are going to show up and then they don’t.”
When asked how intensified fighting may impact Canada’s ability to continue evacuation flights, the ambassador said she didn’t know.
“What Israel does with its airspace, it’s impossible for me to say … We’ll adapt with the current situation as it unfolds.”
“It’s really kind of day by day that we’re assessing that, trying to see what’s happening. If the conflict stays in the south and in Gaza, we’re fine where we are. If the conflict in the south triggers conflict in the north, it becomes a slightly different calculation. But we have people here looking at it very closely, we have people in Ottawa looking at it very closely … We’re getting to be a little bit light on our feet to make some of those decisions.”
WHAT IS LIFE LIKE IN TEL AVIV?
After the embassy faced criticism from Canadians who reported considerable difficulty getting consular assistance during the first weekend of the attacks, Global Affairs Canada sent a contingent of more than two-dozen staff to the region to help respond to what so far has been more than 4,000 enquiries.
Stadelbauer said the staffing-up has “made a big difference,” and will remain in effect as long as necessary.
While describing the environment at the embassy as a “humming hive of activity,” just five minutes before the interview began, the ambassador said she was just in a bomb shelter after rocket sirens sounded.
“It’s very quiet here right now. Maybe a quarter of the traffic that you would normally see, people are staying very close to their homes, close to the shelters… People are being very cautious. There’s a lot of anxiety, a lot of worry, a lot of tension,” she said.
Asked if she feels safe right now, Stadelbauer said “mostly, yes.”
“I have faith in the Iron Dome… And our shelters are good. The infrastructure here in Israel is such that people are never very, very far away from a bomb shelter,” the ambassador said.
“There’s a sophisticated system of sirens and so we know that when we’re in Tel Aviv, if we hear a siren it’s for us, it’s that specific, and we have about 90 seconds to get the shelter. So we’re coping.”
WHAT ABOUT CANADIANS IN GAZA?
As Israeli military forces prepare for an expected imminent ground invasion, millions of Palestinians are being ordered to find a way out. The Canadian government is still working to find a way for the 460 registered Canadians in the West Bank and Gaza, to leave.
There were plans on Saturday to get Canadians out of Gaza through a border crossing with Egypt, but that operation was cancelled due to violence in the area.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau issued a statement Saturday expressing his deep concern about the “dire” humanitarian situation in Gaza.
“The rapid and unimpeded access of relief via a humanitarian corridor is essential to address the urgent needs of civilians in Gaza. International law, including humanitarian and human rights law, must be respected and civilians, journalists, humanitarian workers, and medical personnel must be protected. The loss of civilian life is deeply disturbing,” Trudeau said.
Asked Sunday morning if she was aware of any updated plans to get those Canadians out, specifically the estimated 70 Canadians registered in the densely populated Gaza Strip, Stadelbauer said she was not aware given her focus on what’s happening in Israel.
“My colleagues… are working very, very hard, talking to partners, talking with Israelis, talking to Egyptians to try and get those folks out,” she said.
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.
