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By Ross Andersen

A group of 15 Canadians stranded in Ecuador has one message for the federal government: “Please bring us home.”

Kyla MacKinnon is one of 14 Halifax residents in the group who were stuck in the Galapagos Islands with no way of being repatriated to Canada until the local government escorted the group off the archipelago to Quito, Ecuador’s capital, on Saturday.

The group was trapped for a week on a chain of islands in the eastern Pacific Ocean, about 1,000 kilometres off the coast of Ecuador, while on a yoga retreat.

The travellers suddenly found themselves in limbo after a freeze on international travel and mass quarantine amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

The group’s members are now trying to find secure accommodations and food while they await their next steps.

“Please bring us home – we’re pleading to the Canadian government to do anything in their power to help us,” MacKinnon said.

The group of Canadians, which also includes one person from Toronto, is begging the Canadian government to step up and help it get home safely.

“I am afraid, but I have a feeling of hope that the government will eventually send a plane and get us out of here,” MacKinnon said.

She said despite several attempts at reaching out to all levels of government, her phone calls and emails have all gone unanswered.



The group has registered with the Canadian embassy, she said, but has had no further contact.

“They know we’re here,” MacKinnon said.

The Canadian government has pledged a federal loan of up to $5,000 in emergency funding to Canadians who are trying to get home, but that isn’t much help when Canadian airlines are not flying out of Ecuador.

The group cannot get on an American or European flight because those governments are only taking in their own citizens.

“The loan is generous but in reality, it is still a loan, and taking on a more debt is stressful when you know you don’t have a job waiting for you back home,” MacKinnon said.

The Halifax woman had been booked with Air Canada to return home March 28, but the flight from Ecuador has since been cancelled.

The Canadians are currently staying in a hotel in Quito that generously offered them accommodation despite being overbooked.

Last week, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau urged all Canadians travelling abroad to come home, but that is easier said than done.

“It’s been quite challenging because we haven’t had any cellular network and wi-fi is spotty, making it hard to keep in touch with the outside world,” said MacKinnon.

MacKinnon said her friends and family are worried sick about her, especially her older sister, Lana MacKinnon-Haliburton.

“I haven’t slept in a week,” MacKinnon-Haliburton said. “It’s such a helpless, terrifying feeling knowing my little sister is alone on the other side of the world, amongst so much chaos.”

MacKinnon and her husband, Taylor MacGillivary, work at the Halifax location of Shanti Hot Yoga in Halifax, owned by Taylor and Uriel MacGillivary, and were on an annual yoga retreat before COVID-19 became a worldwide pandemic.

They had little to no notice before governments began closing their borders.

With the Galapagos Islands being so remote, it was nearly impossible to get 15 people to mainland Ecuador all at once. Galapagos Gov. Norman Wray said last week that the 2,000 foreigners on the archipelago may be able to leave on charter or government-approved flights.

MacKinnon said there are hundreds of Canadians trapped in Ecuador.

Many of those who are stranded are in a group chat on WhatsApp, where they are sharing stories. The stranded Canadians are also part of a Google spreadsheet with the names and contact information of more than 500 travellers who are stuck in Ecuador.

Their group is only a fraction of the thousands of Canadian travellers who are stranded abroad.

