Canada Games challenged by Air Canada strike, families stuck in St. John’s

For Canada Games Council CEO Kelly-Ann Paul, the timing of Air Canada’s strike was nothing short of “surreal.”

Air Canada grounded thousands of flights last Saturday when its flight attendants went on strike, disrupting the Canada Games in St. John’s, N.L., which run Aug. 8-25 with teenage athletes from across the country flying in and out throughout.

Organizers put a contingency plan in place, arranging charter flights for teams from Ontario and Quebec after their schedules were disrupted. About 130 major technical officials from across the country also had to be flown in the same way, while athletes finishing competition in the opening week headed home, and the next wave arrived for the following week

“It’s been a significant obstacle,” Paul said. “The Canada Games are complex enough in terms of the movement of up to 5,000 people in and out of the city of St. John’s in a 24-hour period. So for this to have happened on the eve of our turnaround day, the odds of that are almost like getting struck by lightning in terms of the timing.”

Flights resumed Tuesday afternoon after a three-day halt. The airline and the union representing more than 10,000 flight attendants struck a new tentative agreement that morning with the help of a federal mediator.

But even as service restarted, families found themselves still stranded in St. John’s.

William Lippai, the father of Team Saskatchewan men’s basketball player Joe Lippai, remained in St. John’s with his wife and daughter, hoping to leave Thursday. While the team arranged a charter to get Joe and his teammates home, his family was left waiting.

William Lippai learned at the end of Joe’s final game Saturday that his Sunday flight had been cancelled.

“At the end of the game, we were talking with other parents who also were kind of in the same boat where Air Canada was cancelling flights for them as well,” William Lippai said. “There were some families that were on WestJet that were OK, so they were heading out and leaving on the Sunday as planned. The rest of us were kind of stuck here.”

The family tried other options, even going to the airport in person after they couldn’t reach Air Canada by phone. They were successfully booked on a Wednesday morning flight, only to have it delayed until Thursday.

“Every U.S. airline that flies out of here, like trying to get to New York City or Boston or even Las Vegas, I looked at — another family was saying that they were trying to fly to Orlando to try to bounce it back on a U.S. carrier,” William Lippai said.

“And all of the first legs out of St. John’s are all provided by their alliance partner, which is Air Canada.”

Taking a ferry to Nova Scotia to catch a flight from there was considered but ultimately disregarded because of the long sailings and the difficulty of reaching the ports.

Lippai said the extended hotel stay, if they get out Thursday, will probably cost an extra $2,500 to $3,000.

However, he said he doesn’t fault anyone for the trouble the trip has caused in supporting his son at the event.

“We found out about … the potential was there for the strike about a week before we travelled, and … we didn’t even question whether or not we were going to stay back, right? It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” Lippai said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 20, 2025.