OTTAWA–Word came March 22 via a text message from Peru’s foreign affairs minister to his Canadian counterpart, François-Philippe Champagne.

A week earlier, Peru had locked down its borders and airspace after martial law was declared. Only approved flights to one military airbase near the capital Lima could land.

The text message flooded Champagne with relief.

Canada would get three flights — “Tuesday, Thursday and Friday” — Gustava Meza-Cuadra agreed. Champagne pressed for more and secured three more flights this week.

Canada’s earlier attempt at a joint airlift with Australia had already collapsed when local authorities wouldn’t permit different nationalities on the same flight.

“So we had to go back to the drawing board,” said Champagne in an interview Wednesday.

With internal movements barred, and the international community scrambling to airlift citizens out, as many as 2,000 to 3,000 Canadians may yet be stuck in Peru.

Still Champagne is grateful many will be able to leave. He says a European colleague still has some 18,000 citizens stuck in the South American country.

In response to the global pandemic, the largest peacetime repatriation of Canadians in the country’s history began slowly, nearly two months ago, with the airlift of a few hundred locked down in Wuhan, China.

In the past few weeks it hit a fever pitch.

There are other concerns as well.

The pandemic has shaken multilateral relations and is driving a wave of protectionist sentiment across the globe, Champagne acknowledged Wednesday.

“There are worrying signs that people are looking inward,” he said, which represents a longer-term threat to economic security, food security and global public health.

Ottawa has so far facilitated 42 commercial flights from 29 countries in the last 10 days. On Tuesday alone, flights arrived from Algeria, Ecuador, Senegal, Democratic Republic of Congo, Hungary and Spain.

And where there were once as many as 3,500 to 4,000 Canadians at sea on cruise ships, the number is down to about 400 Canadians on 12 ships still not docked at ports, an official said Wednesday.

To date, up to 8,000 Canadians and their families have returned, with another 7,000 to 8,000 expected to arrive from 20 more destinations, including India and Pakistan, in the coming days.

“I’ve become like the travel agent of Canada,” Champagne chuckled on the phone. He said moving all the pieces around is like a giant “chess game” with countries trying to barter airplanes, permits to move through quarantine corridors for their nationals, and coveted landing rights.

Champagne counts the returnees as small victories, saying many don’t understand the unprecedented complexities of the consular operation. He also says he knows many are feeling stress and anxiety.

Champagne himself felt mild symptoms a few weeks ago after returning from a European trip, and self-isolated before testing negative for the coronavirus. He chalked it up to jet lag.

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Now what keeps him up at night is the realization that the window to return for many others is closing, and there will be many who won’t be able to return. The stark truth is they’ll have to ride it out abroad, with whatever support Canadian consular staff can provide.

“We’ve been clear from the beginning that despite our best efforts … there will be Canadians that we won’t be able to bring back home,” he said. “It’s not a matter of days but certainly a matter of weeks.”

Global Affairs says there are about 400,000 Canadians registered abroad, but that’s likely only a fraction of the ex-pats and travellers scattered around the globe.