500+ Canadians stranded in Guyana

BY JONELL PANTLITZ

The Prime Minister of Canada sent out a warning to all Canadians abroad to return home due to the outbreak of the Coronavirus. This might have seemed like a simple task by the Prime Minister, but it wasn’t or isn’t for a lot of Canadians abroad and in the Caribbean.

Especially for Attorney Dave Deonarain. His parents and family, along with other Canadians are stranded in Guyana. Dave told Toronto Caribbean Newspaper that on Friday, March 20^th, he was made aware by checking the High Commission of Canada to Guyana website, that Caribbean Airlines was providing a flight from Georgetown direct to Toronto on Sunday, March 22^nd. He paid an additional $500.00 CDN to have his parent’s flight changed from March 30^th to the 22^nd.

This flight was said to have approximately 330 Canadians, but unfortunately, on the morning of Saturday, March 21^st, the Guyanese government shut down the country’s two major airports: the Cheddi Jagan International Airport and The Eugene F. Correia International Airport.

The Canadian High Commission office in Guyana has not answered the phone since at least Monday, March 16^th, 2020, and there is no voicemail. Canadians in Guyana cannot register with the Canadian High Commission to make Global Affairs aware of their presence.

“I have vociferously made my opinions about how awful it is to know that the High Commission of Canada in Guyana has not answered the phone since at least March 14^th, 2020, and there is no answering machine. Based on news reports, the same level of disgusting service on the part of the Canadian government’s Foreign Service has also manifested in Peru as well. Though the Canadian government is patting themselves on the back for the flight to Peru, I see no action in the way of saving their Canadian-Guyanese citizens when they can do so if they put a little bit of effort into it,” Deonarain said.

Guyana is facing a high degree of political confusion due to the recent elections and there are many Canadians who went back to vote. There is said to be a minimum of at least 500+ Canadians stranded in Guyana.

According to Guyana Chronicle on March 16^th, the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) have also brought attention to what they believe was an unwarranted behaviour on the part of Canadian High Commissioner, Lillian Chatterjee. According to Commissioner Trotman, Lillian Chatterjee walked into the meeting unannounced. “Presumably, she came in there to impose her will on the meeting,” Commissioner Desmond Trotman told the media. He added, “She barged into the room as if it is that she was the new ruler of the land.”

Vincent Alexander also said, “I think she was intervening in the announcement being made by the returning officer and she was running in the room telling us what we should do with relation to what was happening outside.”

Is this what the Canadian High Commissioner has placed in Guyana to intervene in the country’s elections? Should this behaviour even be tolerable, by GCOM and more so Canadian-Guyanese?

The attorney’s mother, Mina Deonarain, also shared frustration with Stabroek News on March 26^th, at seeking to get in touch with the Canadian High Commission in Guyana. She and her husband, both in there 60s, had travelled to Guyana in January to avoid the bitter Canadian winter. They make such winter trips annually, sometimes staying in Florida.

Toronto has had a large Guyanese diaspora since the 1970s. The Canadian government should not forget about them. Dave explained to Toronto Caribbean Newspaper that, Guyanese-Canadians are hard-working taxpayers that own businesses, so they do not typically rely on welfare, and have been part of the Canadian fabric since the 1960s. “Since PM Pierre Trudeau’s immigration amnesty policy in the 1980s, literally all of the Guyanese-Canadians in my parent’s generation are staunch Liberal supporters and will vote Liberal till they die. This is their time of need. Please do not abandon them.”