OTTAWA —
Canadian special forces are currently operating outside the walls of Kabul airport, Canadian officials revealed Monday, working to get people on flights out of Afghanistan.
The news comes one day before a special G7 leaders’ meeting is to be held to address the ongoing crisis.
CTV News has confirmed that forces have convened only a short distance away from the airport, in a designated holding zone where Afghans on their way to Canada are assembling.
At one airport entry gate, Canadian troops have scanned the crowd for Afghans wearing red – a colour those accepted for Canadian flights were told to wear.
Once they’ve made it through the danger and chaos on the streets just beyond, Canadians meet them to offer some reassurance.
Officials said Monday that a Canadian C-17 Globemaster took 436 people out of Kabul airport on Sunday night, up from the 121 airlifted the day before. The plane carried Canadian citizens and family members, as well as Afghan nationals who had been approved for resettlement by Canada and its allies.
“We are having success getting folks into HKIA in significant numbers, which has been a significant improvement over the last few days,” one official told The Canadian Press, using the acronym for Hamid Karzai International Airport.
The pace of evacuations out of Kabul is picking up after Afghanistan fell to the Taliban last week. The U.S. military says in the last 24 hours 16,000 people were flown out on 89 planes, a combination of military and charter flights. Even so, U.S. president Joe Biden is under tremendous pressure from America’s allies to extend his Aug. 31 pullout deadline.
There are still many thousands desperate to leave Afghanistan. Footage from Afghanistan shows people standing in knee deep water outside the Kabul airport, waving their documents for Germany.
In one clip, a woman is pulled out of the crowd and safely over a wall. The fear is that many other Afghans at risk will be left behind.
Many Afghans who worked as interpreters for Western military forces and news agencies are now in hiding, terrified that they and their families could be targeted by the Taliban. Other vulnerable Afghans include human rights activists, politicians, journalists and others who fear that they could be in the crosshairs for their work in the country over the last two decades. Female journalists and politicians who have been outspoken against the Taliban have been frantically deleting online traces of themselves and trying to stay out of sight.
Thousands have been exposed to the threat of violent retaliation.
“Our forces on the ground have all the necessary authorizations to do what they feel is necessary to save as many people as quickly as possible,” Prime Minister and Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau said Monday in Halifax during a federal election campaign appearance.
A virtual G7 meeting, convened by British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, will be held on Tuesday to discuss how to address the crisis.
“When we have our G7 leaders meeting shortly, we will certainly be talking about what more we can do and must do,” Trudeau said.
He has said that Canada’s focus is retrieving our troops, citizens and those with direct connections to Canada, but has said he would like to help more.
“We are also very interested in activists and human rights leaders, journalists and people who over the past many years have fought and delivered improvements for people in Afghanistan,” Trudeau said. “We know those people need to be brought to safety. And we, alongside our allies, will be doing everything we can for all the categories.”
But facing an end of August deadline, there simply may not be enough time to complete this frantic airlift.
America’s allies are pushing the U.S. to stay longer — a topic expected to come up in the G7 meeting.
“If their timetable extends, even by a day or two, then that will give us a day or two more to evacuate people because we are really down to hours now, not weeks,” Ben Wallace, British Defence Minister, said of the situation.
The Taliban have stood back and let the Americans take over the airport thus far.
But a spokesperson for the Taliban has said there is no patience for extending the evacuation.
“President Biden announced this agreement that until 31st of August, they would withdraw all their military forces,” Suhail Shaheen said. “So if they extended, that means they are extending occupation.”
Taliban leaders deny that people are running away out of fear, saying it’s to escape Afghanistan’s wretched poverty.
So far, officials say Canada has evacuated 1,700 people in total across 13 flights, four of which have occurred since last Thursday when the Kabul airport was secured. Around 300 Afghans have completed their COVID-19 quarantine and will be resettling in Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia.
The head of the Canadian branch of the organization Save The Children said Monday that more needs to be done to evacuate young people from Afghanistan, calling on world leaders to step up.
“Though Canada has already announced a resettlement program, it is important that evacuation efforts are not hampered due to bureaucratic red tape as the situation demands urgent action,” Danny Glenwright, the organization’s president, said.
The U.S. still believes it can finish the evacuation by Aug. 31, a little over a week away. But crucially, the U.S. has not entirely closed the door on staying longer.
With files from The Canadian Press and The Associated Press
LONGUEUIL, Que. – People in a part of Longueuil, Que., were being asked to stay indoors with their doors and windows closed on Thursday morning after a train derailed, spilling an unknown quantity of hydrogen peroxide.
Police from the city just east of Montreal said it didn’t appear anyone was hurt, although a CN rail official told a news conference that three employees had been taken to hospital as a precautionary measure.
The derailment happened at around 9 a.m. in the LeMoyne area, near the intersection of St-Louis and St-Georges streets. Mathieu Gaudreault, a spokesman for CN rail, said about eight cars derailed at the Southwark rail facility, including four that toppled over.
“As of this morning, the information we have is it’s hydrogen peroxide that was in the rail car and created the fumes we saw,” he said, adding that there was no risk of fire.
François Boucher, a spokesman for the Longueuil police department, said police were asking people in the area, including students at nearby schools, to stay indoors while experts ensure the air is safe to breathe.
“It is as a preventive measure that we encourage people to really avoid exposing themselves unnecessarily,” he told reporters near the scene.
Police and fire officials were on site, as well as CN railworkers, and a large security perimeter was erected.
Officers were asking people to avoid the sector, and the normally busy Highway 116 was closed in the area. The confinement notice includes everyone within 800 metres of the derailment, officials said, who added that it would be lifted once a team with expertise in dangerous materials has given the green light.
In addition to closing doors and windows, people in the area covered by the notice are asked to close heating, ventilation and air exchange systems, and to stay as far from windows as possible.
Gaudreault said it wasn’t yet clear what caused the derailment. The possibilities include a problem with the track, a problem with a manoeuvre, or a mechanical issue, he said.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 14, 2024.
HALIFAX – Nova Scotia’s Liberal party is promising to improve cellphone service and invest in major highways if the party is elected to govern on Nov. 26.
Party leader Zach Churchill says a Liberal government would spend $60 million on building 87 new cellphone towers, which would be in addition to the $66 million the previous Progressive Conservative government committed to similar projects last year.
As well, Churchill confirmed the Liberals want to improve the province’s controlled access highways by adding exits along Highway 104 across the top of the mainland, and building a bypass along Highway 101 near Digby.
Churchill says the Liberals would add $40 million to the province’s $500 million capital budget for highways.
Meanwhile, the leaders of the three major political parties were expected to spend much of today preparing for a televised debate that will be broadcast tonight at 6 p.m. local time.
Churchill will face off against Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Houston and NDP Leader Claudia Chender during a 90-minute debate that will be carried live on CBC TV and streamed online.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 14, 2024.
TORONTO – A group of hotel service workers in Toronto is set to hold a rally today outside the Fairmont Royal York to demand salary increases as hotel costs in the city skyrocket during Taylor Swift’s concerts.
Unite Here Local 75, the union representing 8,000 hospitality workers in the Greater Toronto Area, says Royal York employees have not seen a salary increase since 2021, and have been negotiating a new contract with the hotel since 2022.
The rally comes as the megastar begins her series of six sold-out concerts in Toronto, with the last show scheduled for Nov. 23.
During show weekends, some hotel rooms and short-term rentals in Toronto are priced up to 10 times more than other weekends, with some advertised for as much as $2,000 per night.
The union says hotel workers who will be serving Swifties during her Toronto stops are bargaining for raises to keep up with the rising cost of living.
The union represents hospitality workers including food service employees, room attendants and bell persons.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 14, 2024.
