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Canadian royal ‘diehard’ camping in London ahead of Queen Elizabeth’s funeral

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LONDON — Bernadette Christie has had a front-row view of some of the biggest royal events of the last decade.

She has seen Kate Middleton and Meghan Markle walk into the church on their wedding days, watched Queen Elizabeth pass by in a golden carriage and met Prince William. Now, the 68-year-old from Grande Prairie, Alta., is camping in a tent for five nights in London to ensure she has the best spot outside Monday’s funeral.

“I want a front-row seat, or else there’s no point in putting all this effort in,” she said.

On Wednesday night, Christie was setting up her green tent in the shadow of Buckingham Palace, alongside a small group of fellow royal watchers she jokingly calls the “diehards.” In the coming days, she plans to move her tent as close as possible to Westminster Abbey, where the queen’s funeral will take place.

Together, the campers help each other pitch tents, share food, take turns guarding each other’s things and soak in the atmosphere of royal weddings, birthdays, jubilees and, in this case, funerals. In addition to her small tent, Christie’s luggage contained a whole bunch of Canadian flags. Her nails are painted red and white, and she showed off the Canadian flag poncho that she sports at royal events.

Christie’s first memory of the queen was when she dressed up in her Brownie uniform at age seven to see the monarch during a royal visit to Canada. After that, she followed the Royal Family over the years through the queen’s Christmas messages, or joining the crowds during their Canadian visits, in between raising four children.

But when the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton — now Prince and Princess of Wales — came around in 2011, she decided it was time to go in person.

“I said to my husband: ‘All I want for Christmas is an airline ticket to England,’” she said in an interview Wednesday night.

Since then, she has returned several times, most recently for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee in June. Each time, she camps.

She said her favourite memories include getting to see the queen pass by in the rarely used gold state coach, and having a good view of Middleton, Camilla, now Queen Consort, and the royal children passing by in a coach.

“Seeing those little kids, just knowing that they don’t ask to be born into it,” was a highlight, she said.

Christie says camping allows her to see things that many others don’t: late night ceremony rehearsals, early morning comings-and-goings of the Royal Family, and occasional acknowledgment from the royals themselves. But the main reason she does it is to be as close as possible to what she sees as history’s momentous events.

Rather than what she gets to see, “it’s more what you get to feel,” she said. “You feel the mood of people.”

Fellow camper Maria Scott, from Newcastle in northern England, said her passion for the Royal Family began with Diana, the late Princess of Wales.

“There was an aura about her and she really connected with people like me,” she said. “She was going through things we were going through.”

Scott has since tried to be present for the major milestones in the lives of Diana’s children, Princes William and Harry. She camped out at their weddings and for the births and baptisms of Prince William’s three children.

“Seeing it on TV doesn’t do it justice,” she said. “You have to be here.”

Christie says she has met many friendly people who stop to offer food or help with tents, or simply to have a chat. She and the other campers have also become fast friends, she said.

That’s not to say it isn’t tough. London’s damp weather means she gets soaked — often. And midnight parade rehearsals, while interesting, aren’t exactly conducive to a good night’s sleep. Tents also have to be taken down early in the morning on the order of authorities.

On Thursday afternoon, Christie could be seen fast asleep on the ground beneath her Canadian flag, oblivious to the hundreds of people streaming by only a few feet away.

“It’s back-breaking, you get freezing cold, you get wet,” she had said the night before. “But it’s fun.”

Christie plans to return to England for King Charles III’s coronation, but she thinks that might be the last time. However, she admitted she has said that before, after a particularly cold and damp time at the Queen’s jubilee. Soon after, she said, she went out and bought the new tent she’s sleeping in now.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 15, 2022.

 

Morgan Lowrie, The Canadian Press

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Canada’s Denis Shapovalov wins Belgrade Open for his second ATP Tour title

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BELGRADE, Serbia – Canada’s Denis Shapovalov is back in the winner’s circle.

The 25-year-old Shapovalov beat Serbia’s Hamad Medjedovic 6-4, 6-4 in the Belgrade Open final on Saturday.

It’s Shapovalov’s second ATP Tour title after winning the Stockholm Open in 2019. He is the first Canadian to win an ATP Tour-level title this season.

His last appearance in a tournament final was in Vienna in 2022.

Shapovalov missed the second half of last season due to injury and spent most of this year regaining his best level of play.

He came through qualifying in Belgrade and dropped just one set on his way to winning the trophy.

Shapovalov’s best results this season were at ATP 500 events in Washington and Basel, where he reached the quarterfinals.

Medjedovic was playing in his first-ever ATP Tour final.

The 21-year-old, who won the Next Gen ATP Finals presented by PIF title last year, ends 2024 holding a 9-8 tour-level record on the season.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.



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Talks to resume in B.C. port dispute in bid to end multi-day lockout

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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 Canadian Press. All rights reserved.



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The Royal Canadian Legion turns to Amazon for annual poppy campaign boost

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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.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.



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