Canadian government officials say they’re concerned for the safety of members of a Canadian flight crew in the Dominican Republic and are trying to get them an expedited investigation and home quickly if no charges are laid.
On April 5, Dominican authorities detained the five Canadian crew members — two pilots, two flight attendants and a maintenance engineer — after the crew say they reported finding a bag hidden in the belly of a Pivot Airlines plane.
Dominican drug control officials later posted a video online claiming they found eight black duffel bags stuffed with more than 200 kilograms of cocaine onboard the plane.
The prime minister and Foreign Affairs minister raised the matter with their counterparts at the Summit of the Americas last week and were assured that the case would be handled according to the rule of law.
Transport Minister Omar Alghabra told CBC News the government continues to ask for more to be done.
“I’m very concerned about the well-being of our Canadian crew,” said Alghabra. “We will do whatever it takes to find a way to, first, ensure that they have due process and that their rights are protected, second, to see them come back home safely.”
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau takes part in a bilateral meeting with Dominican Republic President Luis Abinader at the Summit of the Americas in Los Angeles on June 10. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press)
One of the pilots, Captain Robert Di Venanzo, told CBC News that while he’s grateful for what the government has done, it’s not enough.
‘We thought we were heroes’
Di Venanzo says he and his colleagues have been stuck in Dominican Republic for the past six weeks and are living a nightmare because they did the right thing.
“We thought we were heroes, what we found and what we reported,” Di Venanzo said on a Zoom call from an undisclosed location in the country. “We thought we did an amazing thing by not allowing these things to come back to Canada.”
Di Venanzo said the next thing they knew, they had zip-tied handcuffs on and Dominican authorities were transporting them to a local detention centre.
During the crew’s nine days in jail, inmates repeatedly told them that if they didn’t call home and have their family members transfer them money, they would be killed, Di Venanzo said.
“We’ve been threatened with death by narco criminals, extorted by inmates, and have lived in inhumane and humiliating conditions,” said Di Venanzo on a video posted online with his crew last week begging the Canadian government for help.
“In prison, a dead body was placed outside our cell and we were told we would be next. We are living a nightmare.”
Crew say they found bag in avionic bay
Pivot Airlines says the ordeal started when the crew flew into Punta Cana in the evening on April 4 with another commercial airline.
The crew’s job was to fly home a 50-seat Pivot jet to Toronto that had been chartered by an Alberta real estate investment company. The plane had landed in Punta Cana on March 31 and stayed parked for five days in a secure location guarded by a U.S. company, the airline said. The original Pivot crew flew back to Canada, Pivot said.
On April 5, a mechanical engineer was troubleshooting an issue with the plane before takeoff to Toronto, Pivot said. That’s when he spotted — in a bay under the front of the plane filled with computers, wires and fans — a black bag, the airline said.
The crew immediately cleared the passengers from the aircraft, then called RCMP and local police, said Di Venanzo.
“We didn’t know at that time if it was an explosive device or contraband,” said Di Venanzo.
WATCH | Canadian flight crew detained in the Dominican Republic appeals for help:
Canadian flight crew detained in the Dominican Republic appeals for help
21 hours ago
Duration 2:28
Five Pivot Airlines crew members are calling on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to help after they were detained in the Dominican Republic in April for notifying police about millions of dollars worth of cocaine found aboard their plane.
Hours later Dominican authorities brought the crew outside where they had laid out all the duffel bags of drugs on the tarmac that they said was recovered from the plane.
The crew were then detained and crammed in a cell with up to 26 other inmates, Di Venanzo said. He said they weren’t fed for three days and had to sleep on the ground or standing.
“It’s just terrible,” he said.
In a statement issued to CBC News, a spokesperson for Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly said “consular officials are providing assistance and are in contact with the families of the Canadian citizens.”
“The Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs is also directly engaged on this file,” said Joly’s office. “This is a priority. Because of privacy concerns, we cannot discuss any further details.”
Appeal underway to place Canadians back in jail
Since being released from detention in April, the crew haven’t yet been interviewed by investigators or charged with anything, said Di Venanzo.
But Dominican authorities have told the crew, Di Venanzo said, that they cannot leave the country until the investigation is completed, which could take another 10 months.
Looming is a court hearing on July 21, where the Dominican Republic’s prosecutor is appealing the decision to allow the Canadians out on bail.
Canadian flight attendant Christina Carello said in a video last week posted online she was “begging” for help.
“Mr. Prime Minister, if we go back to jail here, we know we might never come home,” said Carello.
President of Dominican Republic gave Trudeau assurances
The airline said it’s now housing its employees in undisclosed locations with private security. Di Venanzo described the crew’s bail conditions as “house arrest,” adding they don’t have access to their passports or their own phones and are under constant surveillance by security personnel.
The CEO of Pivot Airlines, Eric Edmondson, says he’s “very grateful” for the federal minister’s help so far but wants the crew repatriated.
“They need to be protected,” said Edmondson, who wants his crew brought back to Canada soon. “They informed on narco criminals, it’s public and they’re now in danger.”
WATCH | N.S. pilot fears for friends detained in the Dominican Republic:
N.S. pilot fears for friends detained in Dominican Republic
3 days ago
Duration 2:51
In April, a crew from Pivot Airlines was thrown in jail after millions of dollars worth of cocaine was found on their plane. The crew are friends and colleagues of Antigonish, N.S., pilot Carl Falsnes. Falsnes said the case needs more attention in Canada.
He’s also calling on international aviation authorities to help them obtain surveillance footage. The U.S. company hired to watch the plane for the five days is not co-operating with the airline’s security investigation, said Edmondson.
The Dominican Republic Embassy told CBC News that it needed more time to answer specific questions, but said broadly the country is a “social and democratic state of law, where the rule of law prevails.”
“No one is above the law; in this sense these guarantees will always be assured to all citizens under any circumstance,” wrote the embassy in a statement.
WATCH | Di Venanzo on what the crew’s life is like in the Dominican Republic:
‘Every day is a struggle,’ says Canadian pilot Robert Di Venanzo, stuck in Dominican Republic
20 hours ago
Duration 1:00
Five Canadian crew are on bail after reporting a suspicious bag in the belly of the Pivot Airlines plane
VANCOUVER – Environment Canada is warning about an intensifying storm that is expected to bring powerful winds to Vancouver Island and the British Columbia coast this week.
Matt MacDonald, the lead forecaster for the BC Wildfire Service, says models predict “explosive cyclogenesis,” which is also known as a bomb cyclone, materializing Tuesday night.
Such storms are caused by a rapid drop in atmospheric pressure at the centre of a storm system that results in heavy rain and high winds.
MacDonald says in a social media post that B.C. coastal inlets could see “hurricane force” winds of more than 118 km/h and create waves up to nine metres off Washington and Oregon.
Environment Canada posted a special weather statement saying the storm will develop off the coast of Vancouver Island on Tuesday, bringing high winds and heavy rain to some areas starting in the afternoon.
It says the weather system may cause downed trees, travel delays and power outages, adding that peak winds are expected for most areas Tuesday night, though the severe weather is likely to continue into Wednesday.
B.C. has been hit by a series of powerful fall storms, including an atmospheric river that caused flash flooding in Metro Vancouver in mid-October.
A lightning storm overnight and early Monday covered parts of Metro Vancouver in hail.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 18, 2024.
This will allow CBP to enhance border security while facilitating legitimate cross-border trade and travel. CBP officers will be deployed to busier ports of entry, enabling the agency to use its resources most effectively for its critical national security and border security missions.
These adjustments formalize current operating hours that have been in effect for more than four years at 13 ports of entry across the northern border, with eight ports of entry expanding hours. A small number of ports will see reduced hours in an effort to continually align resources to operational realities. Travelers who use these affected crossing locations will have other options within a reasonable driving distance.
Importantly, these adjustments have been made in close coordination with CBSA, to ensure aligned operational hours that further enhance the security of both countries.
CBP continually monitors operations, traffic patterns and volume, and analyzes the best use of resources to better serve the traveling public. CBP will remain engaged with local and regional stakeholders, as well as communities to ensure consistent communication and to address concerns.
The vast majority of the 118 northern border ports of entry will continue to operate at existing hours, including many with 24/7 operations. Locate ports of entry and access border wait times here.
The following are the new permanent POE hours of operation for select New York POEs:
Chateauguay, NY new hours of operation – 6 am to 6 pm
Trout River, NY new hours of operation – 6 am to 6 pm
Rouses Point, NY new hours of operation – 8 am to 8 pm
Overton Corners, NY new hours of operation – 6 am to 10 pm
Again, these changes will go into effect beginning at midnight, January 6, 2025.
Below is a listing of each location with the closest border crossing that will remain open 24/7 for appropriate commercial and passenger traffic:
Chateauguay, NY – closest 24/7 port: Fort Covington – 27 miles
Trout River, NY – closest 24/7 port: Fort Covington – 11 miles
Rouses Point, NY – closest 24/7 port: Champlain – 8 miles
Overton Corners, NY – closest 24/7 port: Champlain – 5 miles
For additional information or to contact a port of entry, please visit CBP.gov.
Follow us on X (formerly Twitter) @CBPBuffalo and @DFOBuffalo
For more on Customs and Border Protection’s mission at our nation’s ports of entry with CBP officers and along U.S. borders with Border Patrol agents, please visit the Border Security section of the CBP website.
Follow us on X (formerly Twitter) @CBPBuffalo @DFOBuffalo and @USBPChiefBUN
OTTAWA – An Ottawa man is pleading not guilty to charges of terrorism and hate-speech related to the promotion of a far-right group.
RCMP charged Patrick Gordon Macdonald in July 2023, alleging he took part in activities of a listed terrorist organization.
It’s the first case in Canada where the government laid charges for both terrorism and hate propaganda against someone for promoting a violent, far-right ideology.
As the trial opened Monday in Ontario’s Superior Court of Justice, Crown prosecutors alleged Macdonald helped produce propaganda for the Atomwaffen Division, an international neo-Nazi organization Canada listed as a terror group in 2021.
Prosecutors alleged he aided in the production of three propaganda videos designed to recruit new members and incite hatred against Jews.
The allegations have not yet been proven in court.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 18, 2024.
