OTTAWA —
A Canadian who was detained in Thailand for five days amid the COVID-19 outbreak is finally coming home.
Campbell Chamberlin, 26, had been travelling throughout Asia for more than a year when the pandemic began. On Tuesday, while Chamberlin was on a flight from Thailand to Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka shut its borders to some foreign visitors — meaning the Canadian could not enter.
“They asked me why I was there in Sri Lanka, and when I answered tourism, the man just shook his head disappointingly at me and took my passport and left,” said Chamberlin.
With that, after immigration authorities confiscated all their passports, he and three other tourists — two from France and one from Germany — were placed back on the plane they had flown in on. But when they arrived in Thailand, they learned that they were barred from entering that country as well.
The Thai Lion Air staff corralled the travellers, who they were now responsible for. According to Chamberlin, the Thai Lion Air staff was never supposed have allowed them to get on the original flight to Sri Lanka.
“From what I understand, Thai Lion Air should have known [about the travel restrictions] and not allowed us to board, which is why they were then responsible for us afterward,” Chamberlin said.
“We were brought to this room. I don’t think any of us realized at that point that it was going to be five days, because no one really explained anything to us.”
The room where the airline officials held the travellers had little light pouring through the small windows, with cameras on the walls and a series of mats laid out for Chamberlin and his fellow detainees to sleep on.
While Chamberlin expected to wait for a few hours, maybe the night, before being placed on a flight, as the hours went by it became apparent they could be stuck for some time.
When Chamberlin asked to access his luggage, he said he was told he could not — forcing him to go days without brushing his teeth. The airline was charging him $40 per day for his stay in the room that he wasn’t allowed to leave. Chamberlin was also forced to skip some meals, as he has a fish allergy and continued to be served fish due to a language barrier.
Luckily, Chamberlin still had his cellphone. He enlisted the help of his mother, Judy Erskine, who lives in Ottawa, and his sister, Kelly Chamberlin, who both sprang into action.
Kelly shared Chamberlin’s story all over social media, where many friends also shared it, asking for help. Erskine attempted to contact the federal government’s help lines and Chamberlin also sent an email to the government requesting emergency assistance.
However, with thousands of Canadian travellers calling the government’s help lines in a bid to find a way home in the midst of the COVID-19 outbreak, Erskine found it took hours on hold and multiple conversations to reach someone who could help.
At one point, when Erskine attempted to speak to someone with the Canadian government’s emergency assistance line – who she had been told might be able to help — she said she was informed that it might be difficult because it was just after 4 p.m., and the staff would have already gone home.
“I’m disappointed with the Canadian government. I know they’re swamped and I’d love to give them the benefit of the doubt…but Campbell’s sitting in an airport, with flights,” said Erskine.
“I understand that they have 8,000 emails. I get it. But this is my kid, I want him home.”
Chamberlin said he called the Canadian embassy in Thailand four or five times before he “wasn’t just hung up on.”
Once Chamberlin described his problem to the embassy staff, he said an individual from the embassy was “incredible helpful” and the official even went so far as to pass along his personal number. But shortly afterwards, Chamberlin’s SIM card ran out and he wasn’t allowed to purchase another.
“I do believe he did do what he could,” said Chamberlin, adding that the other foreigners detained alongside him had no contact with their own embassies.
In an email to CTVNews.ca, a government spokesperson confirmed that they were aware of the case and were working to assist Chamberlin.
In between her own bids to get a hold of the government, Erskine eventually managed to get in contact with a private investigator on the ground in Sri Lanka, who eventually informed her that Chamberlin had been flagged as an at-risk passenger because he had been turned away from two countries — and now a letter from an airline was required to confirm that they’d be willing to accept him as a passenger.
Meanwhile, Chamberlin and his companions grew increasingly frustrated in the small room where they were held, as travellers in similar situations whose fates were in the hands of other airlines would come and go within hours, having flights to take them out of the country.
Despite regularly questioning airline employees who would visit the room where they had him detained, Chamberlin was repeatedly told that Thai Lion Air had no timeline for when they would release him and his companions. With no passport and no idea when they would be released, Kelly said her “positive, happy” brother became “depressed.”
“That’s my big brother, and he’s hurting, and I can’t do anything,” said Kelly.
However, good news came on Saturday when Campbell was suddenly informed he was booked on a flight to Tokyo, with the ultimate plan to travel back to Canada. While his German companion also had a flight out, he told CTVNews.ca that the fate of the two French travellers remained uncertain.
He also said he’s “amazed” by his mother and sister, who worked “non-stop, 24/7” to get him home.
“I’ve very thankful for everyone that I had helping me.”
At the end of the day, Campbell said he learned from the experience.
“There’s certainly a lesson about booking with discount airlines,” he joked.
However, the real lesson he learned is a cautionary tale for other travellers like him as this pandemic progresses.
“I’m a traveller, I always tell people, keep going as long as you can, no matter what. But I really think right now, if you’re planning on travelling from whatever country you’re in, it should really only be back to your home country,” Campbell said.
CTVNews.ca has reached out to Thai Lion Air for comment.
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.
