A family hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic is angry that Canada’s border restrictions are keeping a son in New York City from seeing his elderly, sick mother in Toronto.
Ottawa last month relaxed travel restrictions for immediate family members of Canadian citizens and permanent residents. But the federal government’s definition of immediate family does not include non-dependent children, leaving dozens of people being denied entry into Canada to reunite with loved ones.
Timothy Martin House says he was hopeful about the changes — until he read the fine print.
“I’m not on this list. How is that possible?” said House. “That list is big. Somehow they manage to leave sons and daughters off. It’s beyond frustrating, it’s infuriating and disappointing.”
Under the new guidelines, foreigners — including U.S. citizens — are allowed to visit family in Canada provided they quarantine for 14 days and qualify for the family exemption which applies only to: a spouse or common-law partner; a dependent child or grandchild; a parent or step-parent; and a guardian or “tutor.”
House’s sister in Toronto, Mary Goldman, says she was shocked when the Canada Border Services Agency confirmed that her brother wouldn’t be allowed into the country because he does not qualify as “immediate family” under the government’s current criteria.
“We got all excited when our prime minister went to the podium and said he would allow immediate family, like he’s so compassionate,” Goldman said. “And then [Timothy] doesn’t fit any of the criteria… And the criteria is allowing tutors — how does that make sense?”
A family photo shows Janes and Goldman, front, with House standing at back right. (Submitted by House family)
The founder of Advocacy for Family Reunification at the Canadian Border told CBC News that, despite the loosened rules, his organization has heard from hundreds of foreigners who are still separated from their Canadian families — most of them committed cross-border couples who aren’t married and don’t fall under the definition of common-law.
“For the past five weeks, our group has gone to 1,600 people. And even with the family reunification exemptions, there are still a number of people who are excluded, and that will include adult children,” said David Poon, a 34-year-old physician from Regina who founded the organization after being separated from his own partner, who lives in Dublin.
The group has launched a petition asking the federal government to expand its definition of immediate family. Poon says Canada’s decision on Tuesday to extend the ban on foreign travellers, including those who do not qualify as immediate family, is “very upsetting.”
Mother’s health “dramatically declined”
House and Goldman say their 85 year-old mother’s health has “dramatically declined” after she was confined to her suite at her retirement residence for five weeks due to a coronavirus outbreak at part of the facility. After a brief stay at home with her daughter, she had to be moved into long-term care.
They say she has symptoms of dementia and struggles to speak, move and interact with her children the way she used to. They also believe the isolation precipitated her decline.
“We all fear she might forget us eventually,” says Goldman. “Mentally, she has lost her short-term memory. She is at times confused and she’s no longer able to concentrate enough to hold a conversation. Physically, she’s lost a lot of strength.”
Janes as a young woman. (Submitted by Mary Goldman)
House came to Canada with his family as a teenager in the 1970s, but went back to the United States after graduating from high school and has lived there ever since. Unlike his siblings, he never applied for Canadian citizenship or permanent residency.
House, who owns a bar in New York City, says the pandemic has been tough on business, but his biggest fear is not being allowed into Canada in time to see his mother before she can no longer recognize him, or before she dies. He describes her as “an exceptional example of what a human being can be.”
“You know, there’s guilt. You should be by your mother’s side at this stage, and I can’t get over there no matter what I do because they closed the borders.”
This isn’t the family’s first COVID-19 challenge. Goldman’s husband, Mike, lost both his parents after they tested positive for the virus. They had been married for nearly 65 years.
“It does seem cruel,” says Goldman. “My brother, my mother and my family are suffering because of this. As a family, it’s very hard”.
Narrow definition a problem for years, says lawyer
One Toronto lawyer tells CBC News the family’s struggle is shining a light on a problem many Canadian immigrants have known about for years but has been exposed by the pandemic.
Avvy Go, director of the Chinese and Southeast Asian Legal Clinic, describes Canada’s definition of immediate family as a “Western concept of nuclear family,” in which only spouses and younger children are included, often leaving out grown children and grandparents.
“For the longest time, Canadians in general didn’t know anything about immigration law because they weren’t directly affected by it,” says Go.
She hopes this experience will serve as an eye-opener for Canadian families.
“I hope more Canadians become aware of this and will be calling on the government to change the law … for all of us.”
The Canada Border Services Agency declined an interview request, but said in a statement that the government recognizes “these are difficult situations for some; however, these are unprecedented times, and the measures imposed were done so in light of potential public health risks.”
According to the CBSA, 1,899 foreigners were allowed in Canada under the new immediate-family exemption between June 9, the day the exemption kicked in, and June 23, while 69 requests were denied.
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.
