By Canadian Bazaar
TORONTO: Canada’s decision to keep a ban on direct flights from India till September 21 while allowing vaccinated family-class passengers and students from all other countries has not gone down well with the Indo-Canadian community.
As a result of the flight ban, Indian students and family-class returnees are now taking indirect routes to reach Canada, costing them four to six thousand dollars per person.
They are travelling to Canada via Mexico, the Maldives, Doha, Belgrade and Cairo where they have to stop from two to 10 nights before taking a COVID test to board onward flights.
The Canadian government says passengers coming from India “via an indirect route will continue to be required to obtain a valid COVID-19 pre-departure test from a third country – other than India – before continuing their journey to Canada.”
The Canadian authorities suspect that travellers from India are using fake documents about COVID vaccination.
As direct flights from countries such as Pakistan continue to land here, many Indo-Canadians see the ban as a discriminatory move against India.
Indo-Canadian aviation expert Hemant Shah says Canada’s decision is guided by political reasons.
“Why India only? When you talk about human rights, why this discrimination against India when Indo-Canadians are a major part of Canada’s workforce? Indian students are pumping billions into Canada’s economy,” argues Hemant Shah.
Satish Thakkar, chairman of the Canada-India Foundation, says the ban has created a lot of confusion in the community because COVID cases are coming down in India even as other countries show signs of an uptick.
“Passengers from India take shots of Covishield which is approved by WHO and Canada. If you allow people with two doses from other countries, the same should apply to travellers from India. If you allow them via third countries, why not directly?” asks Thakkar.
Toronto-based travel agent Rishi Kapoor of Nanak Flights says the ban on direct flights is bleeding travellers from India.
“If the authorities here suspect COVID tests, they should issue a list of approved labs so that travellers can get vaccinated there before coming to Canada,” suggests Kapoor.
However, Brig (retd) Nawab Heir, who heads the Veterans’ Association of Ontario, says the ban on India flights has been extended in view of the threat of the Delta variant.
“There have been reports of some Delta cases around Brampton and some people have been caught with fake test certificates and flouting rules,” he said.
