Military and foreign affairs officials said Thursday Canada expects to send additional planes to help evacuate people from Sudan in the coming days but the volatile situation on the ground is making planning difficult.
The first two Canadian-operated evacuation planes left Khartoum Thursday carrying 118 people, including both Canadians and citizens of allied nations. Two hundred Canadians had previously escaped with the help of allies including Germany, the United States and the United Kingdom.
Global Affairs Canada says about 1,800 Canadians registered their presence in Sudan and just over 100 Canadians still there have asked for help to flee. Several hundred others have asked for assistance on the ground but currently want to stay.
Most of them in the capital of Khartoum.
Defence Minister Anita Anand was pleased with the news some flights had succeeded but called the whole situation “volatile” with intermittent power and communications systems.
“The situation is extremely dangerous in Sudan and key civilian infrastructure is necessary for any evacuation of non-combatants in this situation,” she said.
She said there are 200 Canadian military personnel involved in the missions and they are working as quickly as possible. Two Canadian navy ships are in in the vicinity but movement to the sea by land is risky.
Vice-Admiral Bob Auchterlonie, commander of the Canadian Joint Operations Command, said for now allied planes are not being targeted.
“We will continue evacuations as long as we can support Global Affairs Canada — that being said, it’s a very tenuous situation on the ground,” he said.
Violence erupted in Sudan last week between its army and a paramilitary force.
At least 512 people, including civilians and combatants, have been killed since April 15, with another 4,200 wounded, according to the Sudanese Health Ministry. The Doctors’ Syndicate, which tracks civilian casualties, has recorded at least 295 civilians killed and 1,790 wounded.
A ceasefire has brought some calm, though the fighting continues. Auchterlonie said Canada and its allies are concerned the end of that ceasefire Thursday night may bring an escalation in violence.
Already the two flights Canada has successfully flown out were not full because of increasing extortion of people who are trying to flee to the main airfield in Khartoum.
“There are concerns about leaving in darkness to get to the airport,” said Julie Sunday, the assistant deputy minister for emergency management at Global Affairs.
“All of our allies have noted to us that they have faced the same issues.”
Canada has been criticized for a slow response to the situation, but officials at a technical briefing for reporters Thursday said the suddenness of the violence took them by surprise. Auchterlonie said intelligence reports first indicated the situation in Khartoum was deteriorating about 12 days ago.
“We’ve had Canadian Armed Forces on the ground in excess of a week at this point, including our special operations forces,” he said.
“So just to counter the information that may be out there, the fact is we’re monitoring globally, working with our allies and partners and across government, to ensure we’re tracking situations around the world.”
Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly said she was with her G7 nation counterparts in Japan when the violence escalated and they began working on a response immediately.
It’s of little comfort to Canadians who found themselves trapped as the fighting erupted. Mohamed Hassan was set to return home to Toronto on April 15, the same day fighting spilled into the streets of Khartoum.
The 45-year-old filmmaker registered with Global Affairs Canada but said a week passed without an evacuation plan.
He said he could hear gunshots, mortar shells and low-flying planes from his family’s home in Omdurman, a city in the capital region.
“The response I got from the Canadian government — I felt abandoned, I felt helpless. And nobody was going to do anything for me, so I had to do what I had to do,” Hassan said.
His family joined thousands of others headed north to Egypt. After several failed attempts they were able to arrange for a bus, and the harrowing trip took six days.
“There are no words to describe the experience of terror, horror and misery and fear for my life,” he said in an interview from Cairo, where he arrived on Thursday.
Cash-strapped with limited flight options, he is staying with family and trying to find a way to Toronto.
“I’m just in communication and contact with my family waiting for them to try to send me money. I don’t even have money now,” he said.
Global Affairs is helping evacuees get to a safe third country. Canadians can apply for emergency loans to help them get home, and about $170,000 has been handed out to around 70 people so far.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 27, 2023.
— With files from The Associated Press, Jordan Omstead in Toronto and Keith Doucette in Enfield, N.S.
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.
