TORONTO —
As Canada and the U.S. move to extend the border closure by another month, there are still concerns about how many people may be arriving in the country by air.
Although Canadians are not permitted to drive to the U.S. for leisure travel, they can still fly to the country.
Ambarish Chandra, an associate professor of economics at the University of Toronto, told CTVNews.ca that this has “always been the case” since the start of the pandemic.
“The government never closed down travel by air, but there’s still restrictions. You can’t just hop on a plane and fly to Canada. You’re going to be asked when you enter what the purpose of a trip and in principle, you could be turned back and denied,” Chandra explained in a phone interview on Wednesday.
Chandra said the border measures focus more on restricting the type of travel that is allowed, rather than the mode of transportation. Tourists and cross-border visits remain prohibited, but essential travel for trade and commerce is still permitted, by land and air.
However, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection says Canadian air passengers can still enter the country as long as they haven’t visited Brazil, China, Iran, Ireland, the U.K. or countries in the Schengen Area for 14 days prior.
Depending on which state they are entering, they may not even have to self-isolate upon arrival. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that international travellers quarantine, but it is not a requirement unless specified by a state.
However, the permission to fly is not mutual.
Canada prohibits U.S. visitors, except those with immediate family in Canada, from entering the country by all modes of transportation, including by plane.
The border restrictions apply specifically to land crossings because these entry points are less challenging to control and monitor, according to Chandra.
“The policy from the start was to stop all non-essential travel. That’s much easier to do by land. and it’s also much more practical because most travel over the land border is actually non-essential,” Chandra said.
“People cross the border both ways to shop or just to go on short vacations, which is harder to do and requires a lot more planning to do when you’re doing it by air.”
Between March 22 and Sept. 2, the CBSA said it has turned away more than 18,000 travellers for non-essential reasons. This includes foreign nationals by boat, land, and air from the U.S.
When Canadians return home from abroad by land or air, they are still required to self-isolate for 14 days as per federal guidelines. Chandra said the border restrictions help enforce this.
“The rules that are in place [are] to stop foreign travellers from making non-essential trips to Canada, but also to intercept Canadians returning and get them to quarantine and self-isolate, which is still the policy in place,” Chandra said.
A spokesperson for the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness told CTVNews.ca on Wednesday that the federal government has “brought forward significant restrictions at” the Canada-U.S. border and will continue “doing what is necessary to keep Canadians safe.”
“Going forward, we will continue to evaluate the best public health information available to us to make a decision on when and how to reopen our border. This decision will be made in Canada, with the best interest of Canadians as our top priority,” the spokesperson said in an email.
Senior government sources tell CTV News that Canada and the U.S. are expected to extend existing border restrictions until November. The current agreement was set to expire on Sept. 21 but sources say the restrictions will remain in place until it is felt that the COVID-19 pandemic is under control.
The travel ban was first imposed in March and has been renewed every month since.
The federal government says it will continue to adjust border restrictions as the COVID-19 pandemic evolves, but Chandra said it won’t stop Canadians from travelling.
“Canada can never stop citizens from leaving the country, and of course citizens are allowed to come back by definition… and while they may feel more comfortable travelling now, there’s still policies in place they have to follow,” he said.
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.
