2-hour wildfire evacuation notice issued for some Fort McMurray neighbourhoods
A wildfire evacuation alert for some Fort McMurray residents has been updated to a two-hour evacuation notice.
Lennard Skead says he felt like he'd been put in jail for a crime he didn't commit when he returned to Canada from South Africa on Thursday.
Skead, who lives in Brandon, Man., said he wasn't allowed to leave a Toronto quarantine hotel until the day after he received a negative result on the COVID-19 test he completed when he arrived in Canada.
"Our negative results came out on Saturday, but we are not allowed to leave until the quarantine officer calls us and tells us you can leave now. Nobody called us. Nobody called us until Sunday," said Skead, who was travelling with his wife, Charlotte.
Skead, who is fully vaccinated against COVID-19, said in an interview Monday that by the time he was told he could leave, he had already cancelled a flight back to Manitoba, keeping him in the hotel for another day. It was Skead's third negative COVID-19 test of the trip.
Canadians travelling from one of 10 African countries, including South Africa and Egypt, are required to obtain a COVID-19 test in the country they're travelling from, obtain a second test while in transit and get a third after arrival in Canada. They are required to stay at a designated facility on arrival.
Health Canada said in an email Monday that the requirement for testing in transit "is in place so that the risk of the traveller being exposed to the virus and its variants between the time of testing and boarding the plane, which can take up to 72 hours, is reduced."
Tiffany Gaura, who returned to Calgary from Cairo on Saturday, said she felt after landing in Canada that she was being punished for travelling to Africa.
"From the time you give them your passport, they call somebody immediately who then stays with you, takes you through to a separate secondary screening area where they question you extensively, read you your rights, tell you you have a right to a lawyer and you're being transported by the federal government to an isolation facility," she said in an interview Monday.
While the quarantine facility is in a hotel, she said, it doesn't have any of the usual hotel services, like a restaurant, cleaning or room service.
Gaura, who was travelling with her two children, aged five and eight, said she doesn't understand why she had to stay in a quarantine hotel instead of returning to her nearby home to isolate there.
"This is absurd for a family with a solid quarantine plan, who has no history of not following public health directives, who's fully vaccinated, who's following all the rules, who has done all the PCR tests," she said.
Asked about reports of poor conditions in federal quarantine facilities, Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino said Monday the requirement is "a necessary and fair trade-off."
"We're not going to spare any expense or resources when it comes to protecting Canadians, including at the border. We're going to continue to provide clear travel guidance to all Canadians and others who are travelling to Canada," he told reporters in Ottawa.
Gaura said she thinks Canada's decision to place additional restrictions only on African nations at a time when the Omicron variant of the novel coronavirus is present in Europe and the United States is "opportunistic and xenophobic."
She said she was lucky she was able to clear German customs and get a PCR test while transiting in Frankfurt, because while Canada has put restrictions on Egypt, Germany has not.
On Saturday, the federal government announced that travellers coming from South Africa and transiting through Frankfurt would be exempt from the in-transit testing requirement until Dec. 13.
Tasha-ann Bussell of Rossland, B.C., whose husband was in South Africa for his brother's wedding, said he was able to use that new exemption to get on a flight home, due to land in Calgary Monday.
"He's exhausted and stressed," Bussell said in an interview Monday. "We have three small children and my youngest and the middle child have birthdays in December so he'll miss that ... at least he's gonna be home for Christmas."
She adds she's not angry with the government for implementing the regulations because one of her children is immunocompromised.
"I really appreciate the fact that they are trying their best," she said. "It's just hard. That's all it is."
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 6, 2021.
-- With files from Fakiha Baig in Edmonton.
------
This story was produced with the financial assistance of the Facebook and Canadian Press News Fellowship.
A wildfire evacuation alert for some Fort McMurray residents has been updated to a two-hour evacuation notice.
Saskatchewan RCMP are set to provide an update on what the service calls a 'significant' sexual assault and internet child exploitation investigation.
Canadian LifeLabs customers who filed an application for a class-action settlement began receiving their payments this week, though at a much lower amount than initially expected.
Nobel laureate Alice Munro, the Canadian literary giant who became one of the world's most esteemed contemporary authors and one of history's most honoured short story writers, has died at age 92.
Wildfires have led Environment Canada to issue air quality advisories for parts of B.C., Alberta, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and the Northwest Territories, as forecasters warn the smoke could drift farther east.
An American accused of sexually assaulting a Pennsylvania college student in 2013 and later sending her a Facebook message that said, 'So I raped you,' has been detained in France after a three-year search.
The annual list of Canada's top restaurants in the country was just released and here are the places that made the 2024 cut.
Ontario Provincial Police are responding to a fatal collision involving two vehicles on Highway 417 in Ottawa's west end on Tuesday morning.
The Israeli flag is flying at Ottawa City Hall today to mark the country's national day, with plans to hold a private ceremony to mark Israel's Independence Day. There is a significant police presence at City Hall, including security barriers outside the main doors.
A team is ready to help an entangled North Atlantic right whale in the Gulf of St. Lawrence.
A $200 reward is being offered by a North Vancouver family for the safe return of their beloved chicken, Snowflake.
Two daughters and a mother were reunited online 40 years later thanks to a DNA kit and a Zoom connection despite living on three separate continents and speaking different languages.
Mother's Day can be a difficult occasion for those who have lost or are estranged from their mom.
YES Theatre Young Company opened its acclaimed kids’ show, One Small Step, at Sudbury Theatre Centre on Saturday.
An Ottawa pizzeria is being recognized as one of the top 20 deep-dish pizzas in the world.
A family of fifth generation farmers from Ituna, Sask. are trying to find answers after discovering several strange objects lying on their land.
A Listowel, Ont. man, drafted by the Hamilton Tigercats last week, is also getting looks from the NFL, despite only playing 27 games of football in his life.
The threat of zebra mussels has prompted the federal government to temporarily ban watercraft from a Manitoba lake popular with tourists.