International travellers are having trouble coming into and leaving Canada, because of new restrictions placed on selected countries after a new variant of COVID-19 called Omicron was discovered.
“I was set to travel on Dec. 30 to begin my masters education, and I had looked forward to living the Canadian dream for months,” said Folarin Odejayi, a Nigerian who can’t come into Canada because of new restrictions.
“When I read the news, I was disappointed, and a vivid description would be a building collapsing. All the hard work, sleepless nights, planning and applications felt like a waste.”
According to the Regina International Airport website, travellers who have been in Botswana, Egypt, Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, South Africa and Zimbabwe in the past 14 days have different rules, testing and/or quarantine requirements.
Earlier, new travel restrictions were implemented on foreign nationals who had visited any South African country. Shortly after, the province of Ontario discovered two individuals who came in from Nigeria and had the new Omicron variant of COVID-19.
As of Monday, no cases of the Omicron variant had been detected in Saskatchewan.
Odejayi said he might have to forfeit his flight ticket to Ontario and accommodation plans because of this law and he feels very disheartened.
“Nevertheless, the fact that only African countries are affected did raise some questions for me,” said Odejayi
While this news was disheartening to some, Paul Omoyefa, a political science professor at the University of Regina believes it was a good decision.
“Why are other countries allowed and not African countries, is a good question to ask. But a good response has been given,” said Omoyefa, who believes it is easy tell which country can meet up with the Canadian requirements.
“First thing is they don’t trust the African medical system, because even people in Africa don’t trust their own health system. Africans travel to western countries for their treatment.”
According to the Our World in Data website, only 1.7 per cent of the population in Nigeria are vaccinated, followed by Malawi (3.2), Mozambique (12.6), Egypt (15.2), Botswana (21.6), Eswatini (22.5), South Africa (25.2) and Lesotho (26.7).
According to travel.gc.ca, a Canadian government website, a temporary exemption is in effect for eligible passengers leaving from or travelling through South Africa. Omoyefa said the South African government has intervened and asked who is fighting for these other countries.
“This is not an act of racism,” said Omoyefa. “I run an NGO (non-government organization) that fights that.
“There are many other black countries who manage their system properly and were not affected. I see this as a wake-up call to the government of these affected countries and them taking responsibility for their failed systems.”
