‘Lagging behind’: Canada’s extended flight ban impacts students from India - Global News | Canada News Media
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‘Lagging behind’: Canada’s extended flight ban impacts students from India – Global News

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Sachin Dev is one of the many international students navigating Canada’s extended ban on direct flights from India as he tries to make his way to Montreal before the start of the new semester.

The PhD student at McGill University has been planning a circuitous route that would allow him to take a COVID-19 test in another country before arriving in Canada — an effort he said has already led to five flight cancellations and a financial hit to his family.

Read more:
Canada extends ban on flights from India to Aug. 21 due to Delta variant fears

“I feel like I’m lagging behind,” the 27-year-old said in an interview from Delhi.

“Purchasing tickets via a third country is not only five or six times more expensive but involves infection risks too. I’ve faced financial issues because I am not able to access my (university) stipend, which requires a Canadian bank account and study permit, which I will receive only at the airport.”

Dev said repeated extensions of Canada’s flight ban and shifting pandemic quarantine requirements for Indian passport holders in other countries they need to travel through have been behind some of his flight cancellations. He’s now trying to book another route to Montreal with stops in the United Arab Emirates and Serbia.






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Travel restrictions leave Toronto couple stranded in India


Travel restrictions leave Toronto couple stranded in India – May 12, 2021

Canada’s ban on direct flights from India — announced April 22 as India experienced a massive surge of COVID-19 cases, and extended again this month — has meant international students have had to plot complex travel itineraries, shoulder the cost of an extended journey, and deal with the uncertainty that comes with obtaining a COVID-19 test in a third country.

For Sayana Sherif, securing such a test at an airport in Egypt while en route to Canada was one of the most challenging parts of her journey.

Read more:
‘I’m a little bit worried’: International students face COVID-related hurdles as fall looms

“The whole procedure was completely disorganized,” she said. “Passengers had to take charge, organize ourselves, collect the money for the test in groups and facilitate the whole administrative procedure pre-test by ourselves.”

Her route from India involved passing through Oman and Egypt before landing in Toronto and driving to her student residence in Montreal.

Like Dev, Sherif also saw several flights canceled or postponed during the pandemic before she was able to make it to Canada.






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University of Manitoba student stuck in Pakistan


University of Manitoba student stuck in Pakistan – Apr 28, 2021

Gaurav Kamath, another student from India, said the flight ban has created a lot of stress for those trying to secure their post-secondary spots in Canada.

“At the moment there is a real sense of desperation among students in India,” said Kamath, who arrived in Canada recently after a route that took him through Paris and the Dominican Republic.

“Those who’ve got their admission letters have had to pay their fees by this point, so I don’t think there’s any question for them for abandoning this opportunity, and they will take any route to enter Canada.”

India is one of the top source countries for international students coming to Canada.

Kareem El-Assal _ policy director for CanadaVisa.com, a resource site run by a Quebec-based immigration law firm _ called the situation a “painful travel process.” But he said the high demand for a Canadian university education among Indian students meant most would put up with the barriers created by the ban.






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Canada renews India flight ban until July 20, ends ban on Pakistan flights


Canada renews India flight ban until July 20, ends ban on Pakistan flights – Jun 21, 2021

While he expects to see a drop in enrollments from India this academic year, he said admissions will likely soar again once travel restrictions are loosened.

“In the short term there will be a negative impact,” said El-Assal.“In the medium and long term, Canada offers such a compelling package to international students that there shouldn’t be a negative impact once the pandemic is behind us.”

The federal government cited advice from the Public Health Agency of Canada when it extended the flight ban in early August.

“Canada’s phased approach to easing border measures is informed by the continued monitoring of available data and scientific evidence,” it said at the time. “While Canada continues to trend in the right direction, the epidemiological situation and vaccination coverage is not the same around the world.”

© 2021 The Canadian Press

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Port of Montreal employer submits ‘final’ offer to dockworkers, threatens lockout

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MONTREAL – The employers association at the Port of Montreal has issued the dockworkers’ union a “final, comprehensive offer,” threatening to lock out workers at 9 p.m. Sunday if a deal isn’t reached.

The Maritime Employers Association says its new offer includes a three per cent salary increase per year for four years and a 3.5 per cent increase for the two subsequent years. It says the offer would bring the total average compensation package of a longshore worker at the Port of Montreal to more than $200,000 per year at the end of the contract.

“The MEA agrees to this significant compensation increase in view of the availability required from its employees,” it wrote Thursday evening in a news release.

The association added that it is asking longshore workers to provide at least one hour’s notice when they will be absent from a shift — instead of one minute — to help reduce management issues “which have a major effect on daily operations.”

Syndicat des débardeurs du port de Montréal, which represents nearly 1,200 longshore workers, launched a partial unlimited strike on Oct. 31, which has paralyzed two terminals that represent 40 per cent of the port’s total container handling capacity.

A complete strike on overtime, affecting the whole port, began on Oct. 10.

The union has said it will accept the same increases that were granted to its counterparts in Halifax or Vancouver — 20 per cent over four years. It is also concerned with scheduling and work-life balance. Workers have been without a collective agreement since Dec. 31, 2023.

Only essential services and activities unrelated to longshoring will continue at the port after 9 p.m. Sunday in the event of a lockout, the employer said.

The ongoing dispute has had major impacts at Canada’s second-biggest port, which moves some $400 million in goods every day.

On Thursday, Montreal port authority CEO Julie Gascon reiterated her call for federal intervention to end the dispute, which has left all container handling capacity at international terminals at “a standstill.”

“I believe that the best agreements are negotiated at the table,” she said in a news release. “But let’s face it, there are no negotiations, and the government must act by offering both sides a path to true industrial peace.”

Federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon issued a statement Thursday, prior to the lockout notice, in which he criticized the slow pace of talks at the ports in Montreal and British Columbia, where more than 700 unionized port workers have been locked out since Nov. 4.

“Both sets of talks are progressing at an insufficient pace, indicating a concerning absence of urgency from the parties involved,” he wrote on the X social media platform.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.



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‘Disgraceful:’ N.S. Tory leader slams school’s request that military remove uniform

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HALIFAX – Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston says it’s “disgraceful and demeaning” that a Halifax-area school would request that service members not wear military uniforms to its Remembrance Day ceremony.

Houston’s comments were part of a chorus of criticism levelled at the school — Sackville Heights Elementary — whose administration decided to back away from the plan after the outcry.

A November newsletter from the school in Middle Sackville, N.S., invited Armed Forces members to attend its ceremony but asked that all attendees arrive in civilian attire to “maintain a welcoming environment for all.”

Houston, who is currently running for re-election, accused the school’s leaders of “disgracing themselves while demeaning the people who protect our country” in a post on the social media platform X Thursday night.

“If the people behind this decision had a shred of the courage that our veterans have, this cowardly and insulting idea would have been rejected immediately,” Houston’s post read. There were also several calls for resignations within the school’s administration attached to Houston’s post.

In an email to families Thursday night, the school’s principal, Rachael Webster, apologized and welcomed military family members to attend “in the attire that makes them most comfortable.”

“I recognize this request has caused harm and I am deeply sorry,” Webster’s email read, adding later that the school has the “utmost respect for what the uniform represents.”

Webster said the initial request was out of concern for some students who come from countries experiencing conflict and who she said expressed discomfort with images of war, including military uniforms.

Her email said any students who have concerns about seeing Armed Forces members in uniform can be accommodated in a way that makes them feel safe, but she provided no further details in the message.

Webster did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

At a news conference Friday, Houston said he’s glad the initial request was reversed but said he is still concerned.

“I can’t actually fathom how a decision like that was made,” Houston told reporters Friday, adding that he grew up moving between military bases around the country while his father was in the Armed Forces.

“My story of growing up in a military family is not unique in our province. The tradition of service is something so many of us share,” he said.

“Saying ‘lest we forget’ is a solemn promise to the fallen. It’s our commitment to those that continue to serve and our commitment that we will pass on our respects to the next generation.”

Liberal Leader Zach Churchill also said he’s happy with the school’s decision to allow uniformed Armed Forces members to attend the ceremony, but he said he didn’t think it was fair to question the intentions of those behind the original decision.

“We need to have them (uniforms) on display at Remembrance Day,” he said. “Not only are we celebrating (veterans) … we’re also commemorating our dead who gave the greatest sacrifice for our country and for the freedoms we have.”

NDP Leader Claudia Chender said that while Remembrance Day is an important occasion to honour veterans and current service members’ sacrifices, she said she hopes Houston wasn’t taking advantage of the decision to “play politics with this solemn occasion for his own political gain.”

“I hope Tim Houston reached out to the principal of the school before making a public statement,” she said in a statement.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.



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Sides in B.C. port dispute to meet in bid to end lockout after talk with minister

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VANCOUVER – Employers and the union representing supervisors embroiled in a labour dispute that triggered a lockout at British Columbia’s ports will attempt to reach a deal when talks restart this weekend.

A spokesman from the office of federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon has confirmed the minister spoke with leaders at both the BC Maritime Employers Association and International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 514, but did not invoke any section of the Canadian Labour Code that would force them back to talks.

A statement from the ministry says MacKinnon instead “asked them to return to the negotiation table,” and talks are now scheduled to start on Saturday with the help of federal mediators.

A meeting notice obtained by The Canadian Press shows talks beginning in Vancouver at 5 p.m. and extendable into Sunday and Monday, if necessary.

The lockout at B.C. ports by employers began on Monday after what their association describes as “strike activity” from the union. The result was a paralysis of container cargo traffic at terminals across Canada’s west coast.

In the meantime, the union says it has filed a complaint against the employers for allegedly bargaining in bad faith, a charge that employers call a “meritless claim.”

The two sides have been without a deal since March 2023, and the employers say its final offer presented last week in the last round of talks remains on the table.

The proposed agreement includes a 19.2 per cent wage increase over a four-year term along with an average lump sum payment of $21,000 per qualified worker.

The union has said one of its key concerns is the advent of port automation in cargo operations, and workers want assurances on staffing levels regardless of what technology is being used at the port.

The disruption is happening while two container terminals are shut down in Montreal in a separate labour dispute.

It leaves container cargo traffic disrupted at Canada’s two biggest ports, Vancouver and Montreal, both operating as major Canadian trade gateways on the Pacific and Atlantic oceans.

This is one of several work disruptions at the Port of Vancouver, where a 13-day strike stopped cargo last year, while labour strife in the rail and grain-handling sectors led to further disruptions earlier this year.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.



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