Stranded Canadian couple wonders how they’ll get home from Peru

On the same day Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced multiple new flights to bring stranded Canadians home from abroad, one Canadian couple remains unsure how they’ll get out of Peru.

Keegan Kent and his fiancee, Christina Radvak, are effectively trapped in Peru thanks to COVID-19.

“Peru is under complete lockdown. Cities are entirely shut down. People aren’t allowed out, other than for medical supplies or food, so it’s become quite serious,” Kent, who’s originally from Virden, Man., and now lives in North Vancouver, told the Greg Morgan Morning Show on Monday.

Foreign Affairs Minister Francois Philippe-Champagne announced Monday via Twitter three Air Canada planes would bring Canadians in Peru home this week.

Radvak said the Canadian government told them to go to Lima. The problem is, they aren’t in Lima. They’re in Cusco, which she estimates is a 20-hour bus ride away from Lima.

“There’s no transportation, internationally as well as nationally across the country. To catch a flight, to catch a bus, to take a taxi is completely impossible for us,” said Radvak.

Kent said within the city, there are police everywhere monitoring the situation. Outside the city, he said there are tanks sitting on the road blocking people from going by.

The couple planned this trip for months, Kent said, and they left in early February before the virus really spread outside the epicentre of Wuhan.

“We had no idea of the seriousness of what this outbreak was going to be,” he said. “It had just started in China and so we hadn’t really thought much of it.”

Even if the pair got to Lima, their problems wouldn’t vanish. That’s because Radvak said the country’s capital city has a lot more cases of the new coronavirus compared to where they are now.

There are some positives through all of this for them. One, the couple said it’s nice to have each other. Two, there are a number of other Canadians in Cusco with them.

For right now, Radvak said none of the Canadians she knows of there have tested positive for COVID-19, but believes it’s only a matter of time.

“The more the government waits to help us, the more that they lag, the harder it is going to be to get people out of here,” she said.

Federal gov’t announces plans

During his morning media conference in Ottawa, Trudeau said the flights will include three new Air Canada flights to bring Canadians back from Peru, which has otherwise closed its airspace.

Trudeau said Air Transat, WestJet and Sunwing airlines all have flights planned this week.

Two more Air Canada flights are to reach Canadians in Morocco in the coming days, he said.

Trudeau said an Air Canada flight to Spain is also confirmed, while Air Transat has been cleared for two flights to Honduras and one each to Ecuador, El Salvador and Guatemala.

The prime minister is urging all Canadians abroad to return home by commercial means while options are still available, and to register with the government so they can receive proper updates.

“You need to do this if you haven’t done it already,” Trudeau said outside his Rideau Cottage residence in Ottawa.

Earlier Monday, Champagne said it won’t be possible for the government to repatriate all Canadians stranded abroad.

In an interview with CBC’s The Current, Champagne said the challenges the government faces are unprecedented with airport and airspace closures, border closures and the fact some countries have imposed martial law.

Global Affairs Canada has had 10,000 calls and 14,000 emails in the last 48 hours, he said.

Champagne told the radio program the government will try to help support stranded Canadians locally through diplomatic channels.

Champagne said he had to negotiate for air access to Peru despite the fact the country is closed, and it is controlled by the military.

“My job is to negotiate on a case-by-case basis where we have a cluster of Canadians, and where Canadians can gather in one place,” he said.

“Sometime, getting the plane is Step 1, and the easiest one. Then it’s to make sure we land there, make sure we can have safe passage for our crew, safe passage for Canadians who want to return home.”

— With files from The Canadian Press

EDITOR’S NOTE: This is an amended version of the story, with the corrected name of one of the Canadians.