Two Canadian evacuation flights made it safely out of Khartoum late Friday after two earlier airlifts to extract Canadians from the war zone were cancelled, said Global Affairs Canada and Defence Minister Anita Anand.
In a tweet, Anand said the Canadian military will remain “ready to conduct flights for as long as conditions allow.”
One of Canada’s planned evacuation flights to Sudan ran into mechanical problems early Friday in the nearby country of Djibouti and had to be scrubbed.
A second Canadian flight, involving a C-130J Hercules transport, was cancelled after a Turkish relief plane was fired on by one of the warring parties.
The problems emerged just one day after Canada began its long-anticipated humanitarian mission in the east African country, now in the midst of a precarious ceasefire between two warring factions.
Canada has been staging its evacuation flights out of Djibouti. Two aircraft are assigned to the mission.
Anand, who spoke publicly early on Friday, did not say where the C-130J encountered its mechanical issues, or what the nature of the problem was.
“We need to ensure that occurs safely and that’s the question on the table right now,” Anand told reporters at a media availability in Dartmouth, N.S.
Defence minister says about 250 Canadians evacuated from Sudan
Minister of National Defence Anita Anand says Canada has three aircrafts in the region and that flights will resume ‘as soon as possible.’
Canadians and other foreign nationals have been caught in the crossfire of Sudan’s civil conflict after violence broke out last week between the east African country’s army and a paramilitary force.
Canadians waiting at the airstrip on Friday said they were left outside most of the time with little water or food, and almost no information.
“The British Army are the ones that have been providing food, water and anything else that people need,” said Safia Mustafa, who grew up in St. Catharines, Ont., but now lives in Calgary. “They’ve been really, really helpful. They help people with their bags shuttling back and forth.”
Safia Mustafa of Calgary told CBC News Canadian military personnel assisting evacuation efforts in Sudan seem overwhelmed. (CBC News)
Mustafa said a handful of Canadian military personnel on the ground have been “doing their best to … communicate with us,” but they seemed stressed.
“I think a lot of it is out of their control,” she said.
The fragility of Sudan’s truce was underscored Friday by reports that a Turkish evacuation plane came under fire at an airbase outside Sudan’s capital Khartoum as it was coming in to land.
The Turkish defence ministry said no one was injured and it landed safely at Wadi Seidna, where it was being checked.
The Sudanese army blamed paramilitary fighters with the Rapid Support Forces faction for the attack on the Turkish aircraft. The RSF denied the allegation, saying it was committed to the extended humanitarian truce.
The two sides agreed late Thursday to a three-day extension of their ceasefire, which had been set to expire.
Aside from concerns about security, Anand said the condition of the runway at the Sudanese military airport is an increasing source of concern for Canada and its allies.
“The terrain at the airport is very rough and it requires a continual assessment by our officials, together with our allies, that planes can safely take off,” she said.
Late Friday, a senior defence official in Ottawa said the window for air evacuation out of Sudan is closing rapidly and options are being developed for Global Affairs to get Canadians out overland to the port of Sudan — where a Canadian warship, a supply vessel and allied ships are waiting.
But that would involved a risky 800-kilometre journey during a ceasefire that is barely holding.
“The two militaries involved, the Sudanese military and the rapid support forces, are probably not under as tight control as we would like in terms of command and control,” said retired major-general Denis Thompson, a former special forces commander. “Even though there may be a ceasefire in place, it doesn’t necessarily mean that the soldiers on the ground get the message,”
Global Affairs Canada says over 300 Canadians have been evacuated so far.
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.
