Grande Prairie's Nadia Critchfield is urging the Trudeau government to bring more flights to Peru, specifically Cusco, to help Canadians stranded there get out (Photo supplied by Nadia Critchfield)

By Shaun Penner

Still looking for answers

Grande Prairie resident in Peru urging for more flights home as tensions mount

Mar 24, 2020 | 3:14 PM

One of the Grande Prairie residents currently stuck in Cusco, Peru says she is growing more and more concerned for her safety as tensions are beginning to mount in the South American nation while it is under a shelter-in-place order.

With her safety currently in question, Nadia Critchfield says she needs Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the Canadian government to take quicker action and get more flights out of Peru for the thousands of stranded Canadians.

Despite the federal government announcing that they are sending three planes to Peru in the coming days to repatriate Canadians, Critchfield says she has received very few details about how to access those flights.

“Speaking to other Canadians…. It’s minimal communication for everybody. I haven’t received one text message. I’ve been receiving emails, but it’s not giving me information as to when I can come home.”

“I feel like Justin Trudeau is failing us.”

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Like other Grande Prairie residents stranded in Cusco in Cyril Cook and Rachelle Puls, Critchfield has registered with the Registry of Canadians Abroad, but says she still doesn’t know if one of those three flights will be coming to Cusco.

She says she has extreme doubts she could make it to the Peruvian capital of Lima to access a flight, should that be the only airport in Peru allowed to land a flight.

“The airport (in Cusco) is on military lockdown. So, I can’t fly to Lima. I would have to take a 28-hour bus ride,” said Critchfield. “And that is not safe for me.”

In an email Critchfield received Tuesday evening, the Canadian government updated her, saying the first of those three flights left Lima Tuesday evening. They also acknowledged that they are working to get Canadians out of Cusco.

“We understand and are working hard to bring Canadians all across Peru to central locations,” read the statement. “We are working on specific arrangements to include those out of the Cusco region for subsequent flights.”

Critchfield has been in Peru since March 7 and was supposed to fly home on March 19. However, unbeknownst to her while on a trip through the Peruvian jungle on March 15, she soon found out the country was going under a full quarantine starting March 16 to stop the spread of COVID-19, and that the borders and airports of Peru were to immediately close.

That meant her flight back to Canada was cancelled, and she has since been looking for answers about how to get back.

Now being isolated in a hostel in Cusco, where she can only go to the grocery store or the pharmacy, she is beginning to notice tensions boiling over throughout the community.

“A few days ago, there was a protest at the airport. I’m seeing military everywhere, I’m seeing police everywhere. If you go outside, you get yelled at,” said Critchfield. “It’s very scary. I’m out of my element.”

Another point of concern for Critchfield is that the City of Lima has long faced a water shortage, which is not being helped by the spread of the novel coronavirus, and many rumours are spreading that those issues could expand beyond Peru’s capital.

“So, that scares me. How long until there will be a water shortage in Cusco?”

With all of that, she feels it is only going to get worse for foreigners in Peru, and she is urging the Trudeau government to take more swift action to get Canadians home.

“I’m afraid for my safety and I want to come home now, and I want Justin Trudeau to listen,” said Critchfield. “I want him to help all of us Canadians who are stranded here…. Three planes is not enough.”

While the government is continuing to work to find more flights for Canadians abroad to come home, Foreign Affairs Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne has said it won’t be possible for the government to repatriate all Canadians who are stranded.

Critchfield says though she will keep advocating until she and other Canadians can return home.

“I am a Canadian citizen, and I want to come home.”