Carmen and Lara Messerlian only have one more sleep to go until they can finally squeeze their dad simultaneously in a giant bear hug.
The two sisters travelled from the United States, where they live with their families, to be with their father, John Messerlian, in New Brunswick.
He has stage four cancer of the kidneys and is dying.
The sisters crossed the Canada-U.S. border almost two weeks ago and have been self-isolating in a tent about nine metres behind their parents’ home in Rothesay.
“We’ll be able to go onto the patio and actually give our dad a proper hug,” said Lara, the younger of the sisters.
John Messerlian didn’t want to spend the final days of his life in palliative care at the Saint John Regional Hospital. He wanted to be home with his family in Rothesay. (Submitted by Carmen Messerlian)
Messerlian has renal cell carcinoma and was sent to hospital in an ambulance at the beginning of June when his symptoms worsened.
He spent 10 days at the Saint John Regional Hospital. Because of COVID-19 restrictions, he was allowed one brief visit from his wife, Heleni.Eventually, the medical team suggested their dad stay in palliative care, where he could receive better treatment.
Instead, the family decided to bring him home, so he wouldn’t be in isolation.
Driving to the border ‘no matter what’
The sisters have two tents in their parents’ backyard in Rothesay, one for sleeping and one for work and leisure. (CBC)
This isn’t the first time the sisters received a call like this about their father. His health has been deteriorating for five years.
So the sisters, who are only one year apart, did what they normally do — jumped in a vehicle and headed home to New Brunswick.
Carmen’s dog, Daisy, spends time outside near the backyard tents. (Submitted by Carmen Messerlian)
Only this time, they had to try to cross the international border that has been closed since the end of March because of COVID-19.
“There was no doubt, no matter what was happening, I would drive to the border,” Lara said.
“And if they turn me away, they’ll turn me away. But I would rather just get there and hope that I’ll be able to see my father.”
Sister recovered from COVID-19
Serge Messerlian, with Heleni, Carmen, Lara and John. Serge, the eldest of the siblings, couldn’t make the trip this time from San Francisco to Saint John to visit his father. (Submitted by Carmen Messerlian)
Before they left, Lara travelled from Pennsylvania to her home in New York City. She was in quarantine at her in-laws’ home because she had tested positive for COVID-19 in early April, but has now recovered.
From there, she travelled to pick up Carmen in Boston. Then the duo set out for the border crossing at St. Stephen. They arrived at 2 a.m. on June 13, and were the only ones in line.
The sistershad to give an oath they would follow public health guidelines. If not, they were told, they could be fined up to $1 million and possibly face jail time.
The process took a total of 12 minutes.
“It was kind of scary for that moment,” Lara said. “We kind of had a moment of, are we doing the right thing? We don’t want to put anyone at risk and we don’t want to bring anything into the country.
“We certainly don’t want to be patient zero in New Brunswick.”
As a professor of epidemiology at Harvard University, Carmen said she’s a strong believer of mitigation measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
Daisy also keeps John company throughout the day. (Submitted by Carmen Messerlian)
“My sister and I took this very seriously.”
Lara, who works in public relations in New York City, said the border scene was intimidating, but she respected the patrol officers because they “had a serious job to do.”
“But we also had a serious situation and a family emergency we needed to tend to,” she said.
Once they arrived in New Brunswick, the sisters began their search for a place to stay in isolation.
The two sisters stand in their parents’ backyard and chat with their father, who’s standing on his deck. (CBC News)
Without any luck, they had to choose between spending a night camping for the first time in their lives or sleeping in Carmen’s van.
They chose camping.
“It was easy to choose this as opposed to an Airbnb,” Carmen said. “We could be close to my dad, which was a big factor.”
Camping for the first time
The Messerlian sisters have been celebrating being together with their father, while living in an outdoor tent over the past two weeks. This is their first time camping. (Submitted by Carmen Messerlian)
But they had to get some camping supplies. Just before Canadian Tire closed, the sisters were on the phone with a staff member in Rothesay. He was picking out all the supplies they would need. Then the items were picked up by a family friend.
“We [had] never pitched a tent, but we were going to do this even if it’s dark,” said Lara. “There was no light at the time, and there were mosquitos everywhere.”
He’s the perfect package of a person and he’s been unmatched in my life.– Carmen Messerlian
For the next two weeks, the sisters had two large tents, one for sleeping and one for work and leisure. They had lanterns, a makeshift sink, toilet and shower, which offered only cold water in the mornings from a hose. They also had an inflatable bed, which they said allowed them to have the best sleep of their lives.
“Everything, you would need for backyard living,” said Lara.
Throughout their camping experience, they were also checked on by police to make sure they were following the rules.
John teaching his grandson, Mateo, music theory, during one of his hospital visits. (Submitted by Carmen Messerlian)
During their stay, the sisters said they were able to enjoy New Brunswick’s fresh air, eat chips and hang out as they did as teenagers.
“We could be like sisters again, sharing a room,” Carmen said. “It’s a tent, but it’s a room to us.”
But most important, they were able to be near their dad.
Celebrating dad
John sports a ‘Still Grooving at Eighty-Five’ T-shirt he received from his family for his birthday. (Submitted by Carmen Messerlian)
The sisters have spent the last two weeks talking with their father about everything, including the weather and childhood stories, and singing old songs he taught them when they were kids.
In his checkered pyjama pants and black T-shirt, he often sits or stands, gripping the deck railing, as Lara and Carmen chat on the lawn.
They’re looking forward to snuggling under the covers with their dad and listening to his heartbeat, which they have been doing during their visits since he was first diagnosed with cancer five years ago.
And although he might be a little slower and 25 pounds slimmer since the last time they saw him, he’s still their dad.
The Messerlians took their last family trip to Greece in 2018. (Submitted by Carmen Messerlian)
Their father grew up in Lebanonand moved from Europe to Canada in 1969, where he continued to chase his dreams as a musician. He is known by many as the Golden Sax of Spain.
The sisters described him as a feminist, human rights activist and a good cook, who made everything from scratch.
They said he’s also a fighter. And has escaped death more than once.
Carmen and Lara Messerlian returned home from the U.S. and are counting the hours until they can hug their father. Carmen is an epidemiologist at Harvard University. Lara works in public relations in New York City and had COVID-19 this spring. 16:43
Although they’re grateful for the time they’ve had together with him over the past two weeks, time might be running out.
A few years ago, Carmen said, she and her father made a pact that he would live at least until he turned 90.
He turns 87 at the end of August.
Carmen snuggles up with her father while he was in hospital over Christmas in 2019. (Submitted by Carmen Messerlian)
“He said to me, ‘I don’t want to break our pact. We made this goal together,’ ” Carmen said, trying to hold back tears.
“I said even if you’re not here at 90, we’re still here. We’re together. Nothing separates us.”
Not even a major border closure in the middle of a pandemic.
And no matter what happens, the two women promised they would throw a 90th birthday bash for their father in three years.
“He’s the perfect package of a person, and he’s been unmatched in my life,” Carmen said.
OTTAWA – The New Democrats confirmed Thursday they won’t help Pierre Poilievre’s Conservatives topple the government next week, and intend to join the Bloc Québécois in blocking the Tories’ non-confidence motion.
The planned votes from the Bloc and the New Democrats eliminate the possibility of a snap election, buying the Liberals more time to govern after a raucous start to the fall sitting of Parliament.
Poilievre issued a challenge to NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh earlier this week when he announced he will put forward a motion that simply states that the House has no confidence in the government or the prime minister.
If it were to pass, it would likely mean Canadians would be heading to the polls, but Singh said Thursday he’s not going to let Poilievre tell him what to do.
Voting against the Conservative motion doesn’t mean the NDP support the Liberals, said Singh, who pulled out of his political pact with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau a few weeks ago.
“I stand by my words, Trudeau has let you down,” Singh said in the foyer outside of the House of Commons Thursday.
“Trudeau has let you down and does not deserve another chance.”
Canadians will have to make that choice at the ballot box, Singh said, but he will make a decision about whether to help trigger that election on a vote-by-vote basis in the House.
The Conservatives mocked the NDP during Question Period for saying they had “ripped up” the deal to support the Liberals, despite plans to vote to keep them in power.
Poilievre accused Singh of pretending to pull out of the deal to sway voters in a federal byelection in Winnipeg, where the NDP was defending its long-held seat against the Conservatives.
“Once the votes were counted, he betrayed them again. He’s a fake, a phoney and fraud. How can anyone ever believe what the sellout NDP leader says in the future?” Poilievre said during Question Period Thursday afternoon.
At some point after those comments, Singh stepped out from behind his desk in the House and a two-minute shouting match ensued between the two leaders and their MPs before the Speaker intervened.
Outside the House, Poilievre said he plans to put forward another non-confidence motion at the next opportunity.
“We want a carbon-tax election as soon as possible, so that we can axe Trudeau’s tax before he quadruples it to 61 cents a litre,” he said.
Liberal House leader Karina Gould says there is much work the government still needs to do, and that Singh has realized the consequences of potentially bringing down the government. She refused to take questions about whether her government will negotiate with opposition parties to ensure their support in future confidence motions.
Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet hasn’t ruled out voting no-confidence in the government the next time a motion is tabled.
“I never support Liberals. Help me God, I go against the Conservatives on a vote that is only about Pierre Poilievre and his huge ambition for himself,” Blanchet said Thursday.
“I support the interests of Quebecers, if those interests are also good for Canadians.”
A Bloc bill to increase pension cheques for seniors aged 65 to 74 is now at “the very centre of the survival of this government,” he said.
The Bloc needs a recommendation from a government minister to OK the cost and get the bill through the House.
The Bloc also wants to see more protections for supply management in the food sector in Canada and Quebec.
If the Liberals can’t deliver on those two things, they will fall, Blanchet said.
“This is what we call power,” he said.
Treasury Board President Anita Anand wouldn’t say whether the government would be willing to swallow the financial implications of the Bloc’s demands.
“We are focused at Treasury Board on ensuring prudent fiscal management,” she said Thursday.
“And at this time, our immediate focus is implementing the measures in budget 2024 that were announced earlier this year.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024.
OTTAWA – Treasury Board President Anita Anand has been sworn in as federal transport minister at a ceremony at Rideau Hall, taking over a portfolio left vacant after Pablo Rodriguez resigned from cabinet and the Liberal caucus on Thursday.
Anand thanked Rodriguez for his contributions to the government and the country, saying she’s grateful for his guidance and friendship.
She sidestepped a question about the message it sends to have him leave the federal Liberal fold.
“That is a decision that he made independently, and I wish him well,” she said.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was not present for the swearing-in ceremony, nor were any other members of the Liberal government.
The shakeup in cabinet comes just days after the Liberals lost a key seat in a Montreal byelection to the Bloc Québécois and amid renewed calls for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to step down and make way for a new leader.
Anand said she is not actively seeking leadership of the party, saying she is focused on her roles as minister and as MP.
“My view is that we are a team, and we are a team that has to keep delivering for our country,” she said.
The minority Liberal government is in a more challenging position in the House of Commons after the NDP ended a supply-and-confidence deal that provided parliamentary stability for more than two years.
Non-confidence votes are guaranteed to come from the Opposition Conservatives, who are eager to bring the government down.
On Thursday morning, Rodriguez made a symbolic walk over the Alexandra Bridge from Parliament Hill to Gatineau, Que., where he formally announced his plans to run for the Quebec Liberal party leadership.
He said he will now sit as an Independent member of Parliament, which will allow him to focus on his own priorities.
“I was defending the priorities of the government, and I did it in a very loyal way,” he said.
“It’s normal and it’s what I had to do. But now it’s more about my vision, the vision of the team that I’m building.”
Rodriguez said he will stay on as an MP until the Quebec Liberal leadership campaign officially launches in January.
He said that will “avoid a costly byelection a few weeks, or months, before a general election.”
The next federal election must be held by October 2025.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said he will try to topple the government sooner than that, beginning with a non-confidence motion that is set to be debated Sept. 24 and voted on Sept. 25.
Poilievre has called on the NDP and the Bloc Québécois to support him, but both Jagmeet Singh and Yves-François Blanchet have said they will not support the Conservatives.
Rodriguez said he doesn’t want a federal election right away and will vote against the non-confidence motion.
As for how he would vote on other matters before the House of Commons, “it would depend on the votes.”
Public Services and Procurement Minister Jean-Yves Duclos will become the government’s new Quebec lieutenant, a non-cabinet role Rodriguez held since 2019.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024.
— With files from Nojoud Al Mallees and Dylan Robertson
