From the Philippines to Peru, scores of Canadians who are worried they’ll be stranded abroad for weeks, or even months, as countries close their borders amid the COVID-19 pandemic are calling on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to do more to help bring them home.
Toronto resident Lauren Ianni, 30, spoke to Global News from the town of Cusco in the Peruvian Andes, where she and hundreds of Canadians are currently stuck after Peru issued a nationwide state of emergency declaration, effectively stopping people from travelling in or out of the country.
“Every day, I wake up waiting for something to be solved, but that doesn’t feel like it’s going to happen.”
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Ianni is confined to a hotel with her American boyfriend where there are concerns people may run out of food as movement inside the country has been limited under martial law to stop the spread of the new coronavirus that causes COVID-19.
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The couple travelled to Peru last Thursday after getting confirmation from their tour company that they were safe to go before travel advisories were issued. On Sunday, the company announced mid-trip that the tour was cancelled, and later that evening, Peruvian President Martin Vizcarra announced the country was closing its borders.
She and other Canadians who contacted Global News say they’ve received little to no help from Global Affairs and that they haven’t been able to reach staff at the consulate in Lima, Peru. A Facebook group for Canadians stranded in Peru now has over 500 members.
“Nobody has actually followed through with anything or provided any information,” Ianni said. “I have even heard the American embassies and others, they’re really talking about sending a plane for their citizens.
“I just have not heard anything about Canada,” she said. “And that’s kind of shocking to me because there are so many of us here. I don’t know; I would think that it would be important to them.”
Lauren Ianni and her boyfriend Jester Weah are stranded in Cusco, Peru.
(Supplied)
Margaret McKellar, who is stuck in Cusco with her 15-year-old daughter, said Canada should follow the lead of other countries, like Israel, that have sent flights to help rescue stranded travellers.
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“The only way we can get home is for our government to co-ordinate that. It’s really frustrating and it feels like we aren’t a priority at all.”
McKellar said people are beginning to run out of critical medication and that police were entering hotels searching for tourists who have a fever.
1:57 Canadians stranded in Peru amidst coronavirus pandemic
Canadians stranded in Peru amidst coronavirus pandemic
She is worried Canadians may be stuck in the country until May or later. She said the federal government’s promise of a $5,000 emergency loan isn’t helpful for Canadians stuck overseas if there are no flights leaving the country.
“There is panic starting to set in,” she said. “We are hearing rumours there is a military lockdown and we aren’t even allowed out to buy groceries. There is no one to contact for information.”
Trudeau has said there are about three million Canadians working and living abroad at any given time and that many of them will be stranded as borders close and airlines ground planes.
“We’re going to work very, very hard to bring Canadians home,” Trudeau said Thursday. “I spoke yesterday with the heads of our two large airlines at WestJet and Air Canada to talk about how we can work with them to ensure that there are flights to bring Canadians home. We will continue to respond to the overwhelming demand by Canadians for support.”
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B.C. high school kids stuck in Peru after country takes drastic measures to control COVID-19
Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland said Thursday that consular support is being provided to people in Peru and Morocco and urged them to keep trying to get in touch with Canadian diplomats there.
“We are working urgently to find a way to help those people come home,” Freeland told reporters. “It’s a very complex situation. We understand how frightening it is for people. And we’re working to get through it.”
Global News contacted Global Affairs with questions about how it was working to help Canadians in South America but has not received a response.
The agency said in a previous statement that it can’t comment on individual cases and that it respects “the decisions of local health authorities as they manage this public health emergency.”
“Some countries have put measures in place, including closing land borders and shutting down their airspace. In some cases, measures taken have led to the complete cancellation of flights,” the statement said.
“These instances could well mean that Canadians will not be able to return home for an indeterminate period of time.”
Melissa Woolfson and her boyfriend Devin.
Melissa Woolfson
The situation for Canadians stranded in Asia and Africa is also troubling.
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Toronto resident Melissa Woolfson and her boyfriend, Devin, are stranded in the Filipino city of Bacolod after Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte announced an executive measure quarantining everyone in response to the novel coronavirus pandemic.
“We are essentially stuck here,” Woolfson said early Wednesday.
In Morocco, Canadians Susan Simon and her best friend Lillian Pajic are unsure of when they might return home.
“I am scared right now because things are shutting down, and if things shut down, then what?” Simon told Global News. “We get some false hope, and then it shuts down again. I just, I just can’t keep up. I’m like an emotional roller-coaster.”
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B.C. resident Oliver Chapman is also stuck after travelling to the island of Panglao in the Philippines last week. He said local travel restrictions mean he might not be home until mid-April.
“It is a bit of a ghost town in this part of the Philippines,” he said. “I’m a little frustrated because, basically, it is supposed to be just a quick two-and-a-half-week trip and it is turning into an almost two-month trip. Nobody really knows what’s going on.”
For Ianni, she said it’s important people understand that many people who are stranded went abroad before Canada’s travel restrictions were announced.
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“I feel like a lot of people think it’s our fault for being here. But people have to have that empathy because what if it was one of their family members?” she said. ”I don’t think anyone deserves to be in this situation at all. It’s a horrible situation.”
— With files from Global News’ Jamie Maraucher, Megan Turcato and Morganne Campbell
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.
