That seemed to be the undertone of the message from Canada’s Minister of Foreign Affairs François-Philippe Champagne on Saturday.
OFFICIAL ADVICE TO CANADIANS ABROAD:
We recommend that Canadian travellers return to Canada via commercial means while they remain available. pic.twitter.com/f8DC5goS3n
— François-Philippe Champagne (FPC) ?? (@FP_Champagne) March 14, 2020
Steven J. Hoffman, a professor of global health, law and political science at York University, interpreted the message to come home as Canada’s government being worried not only about the virus, but about how other countries have been handling it.
Being abroad during a pandemic means travellers might experience “measures not in line with the civil liberties Canadians are used to,” he told Daily Hive in an interview.
China put an entire region on lockdown, and later Italy and Spain, both democracies, did the same thing country-wide. Other European nations such as Germany are also looking to tighten their border controls.
Meanwhile, many countries are halting flights from affected areas. The US stopped flights to and from Europe, and Guatemala is quarantining all arrivals from affected areas, including travellers coming from the US and Canada.
“It makes the most sense for Canadians to be back in Canada in an environment where they’re comfortable, their human rights will be protected, and they’ll have access to a great health care system,” Hoffman said.
Health experts hope borders stay open
When Daily Hive asked the Prime Minister’s Office whether Canada will close its borders, communications staff sent us a transcript of Justin Trudeau’s recent interview with CTV journalist Evan Solomon.
“We are not taking anything off the table,” Trudeau said. “We are looking daily at next steps that we might take, or we should take, and those conversations continue.”
Canada’s current advice is to avoid all international travel, and public health officials have asked people coming home to Canada to self-isolate for 14 days. Chief Public Health Officer Theresa Tam said it’s challenging to make the self-isolation order mandatory, because health agencies don’t have the surveillance resources to enforce it.
At a press conference Sunday, Tam said Canada has kept its borders open thus far because scientific evidence doesn’t support border closures as a way to contain the virus’ spread.
“If you look at the global epidemiology to date, countries that enact travel bans have not been able to keep out this particular virus,” she said.
Trudeau mentioned that Italy and the US closed their borders to China — where the outbreak originated. But Italy now has the highest number of cases outside China, and the US is also dealing with widespread community transmission.
BC’s Provincial Health Officer, Dr. Bonnie Henry, has also said strict border controls can encourage people to lie about their travel history and their symptoms. By remaining open and having a low threshold for testing, she thinks the province has been better able to track and contain the virus.
Hoffman thinks Canada will keep its borders open because the science supports it, and because Canadians have a right to enter the country under Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
But Canadians don’t have a right to be picked up on a repatriation flight if they’re trapped somewhere overseas and their airline has cancelled their trip home.
“Even if Canada keeps its borders open, there is a chance airlines may stop flying if they don’t have enough customers,” Hoffman said.
But at the same time, many Canadians think the country should impose harsher restrictions on international arrivals, including 1,500 people who have signed an online petition.
“Of course, we’re hearing the concern that people have had,” Trudeau said. “The shift in posture from the United States of course gives us significant things to think about, and we will be discussing it later today among other measures at our cabinet meeting.”
To Hoffman, the US’ response to its own domestic outbreak is one example of an illogical response to the pandemic. Unpredictable reactions from governments abroad, plus unpredictable phenomena like toilet paper hoarding, have convinced Hoffman to cancel his own travel plans for the time being.
“It really highlights an outbreak is as much as social challenge as it is a microbiologic challenge,” he said. “And we need to address it as both.”
With coronavirus on the rise, Health Canada is reminding individuals who attend events and large gatherings to monitor their health for signs and symptoms of COVID-19. And if you’re not feeling well, they recommend staying home at this time. Also, due to unexpected cancellations, please check the event you plan to attend is still taking place. Keep up with COVID-19 news here.
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.
