She planned to return home to Colombia before giving birth but the border closures caused by the novel coronavirus pandemic forced her to stay.
She has no health insurance and can’t afford what it will cost to have a baby.
Medina came to Canada in June, on a humanitarian flight bringing Canadians home, to help Saenz through a crisis.
“I suffer from PTSD,” Saenz told Global News.
“And my symptoms (worsened)… and she came to support me.”
The sudden death of Saenz’s cousin in May triggered her post-traumatic stress disorder. She has no family in the country and Medina flew to Canada to be by her side.
Now she can’t leave.
Medina had hoped to return directly or through the United States, where her boyfriend is.
When she arrived in Saskatoon the Canadian-American border was supposed to reopen at the end of June, but the Canadian and American governments have extended the closure several times.
Even if she could get out, she can’t return to her home.
“The government of Colombia promised us the borders would be open in one month (back in May). However, the borders are still closed,” Saenz said.
The Canada-U.S. border is currently scheduled to reopen near the end of September — but that doesn’t matter.
Medina is due in three weeks.
She doesn’t speak English but told Global News, via translator and family friend Fernando Maldonado, she didn’t have time to get insurance in her rush to be by her daughter’s side.
She also said the Colombian health ministry said it wouldn’t provide coverage while she is abroad.
That means she has no health coverage and will have to pay for an expensive hospital visit.
According to a document given to Medina by a physician in Saskatoon, the standard outpatient procedure — what she will likely pay if she doesn’t need to stay overnight — costs a little more than $1,000 for non-Canadians with no insurance.
A document given to Sandra Medina by a doctor shows what some hospital procedures and stays cost for a non-Canadian without insurance. Medina says she cannot afford it.
Provided by Sandra Medina
The cost of having a newborn in hospital is more than $2,500 per day.
And an inpatient per diem in a standard ward, if she does need to stay overnight, is $4,500.
Saenz, a University of Saskatchewan student, said they’re expecting a bill between $7,000 and $8,000—which she considers a deal.
Saenz said her mother found out just hours earlier she wouldn’t require a Caesarean section, which would have driven the cost even higher.
They started a GoFundMe campaign to raise $5,000 and will count on friends and family for the difference.
Medina told Global News the fundraiser is her last hope. She simply can’t afford the fees.
She also stressed she urgently needs help.
Though her due date is in three weeks, she said her new daughter could still arrive any day.
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.
