Dad delivers early Christmas gifts, food to daughter in quarantine at Queen's University in Kingston
As Kingston’s case numbers remain high, the health region continues to be the worst in the country for COVID-19.
With thousands of people in quarantine, under mandatory contact isolation requirements, it means some families will be hundreds of kilometres apart for Christmas this year.
Those like the Buckberrough’s.
Michael Buckberrough drove up from Toronto to bring his daughter her gifts ahead of the holidays. Using his day off, for what would be a seven-hour round trip altogether, bringing her stocking, buying her food, and picking out a small Christmas tree to drop off outside her house.
Buckberrough says it’s about providing all the essentials for the big day.
"I am delivering my daughter's Christmas stocking and all her gifts and a whole bunch of food to cheer up her residence because she is stuck in Kingston. Potato’s, a turkey, a stuffed turkey," he says in an interview with CTV News Ottawa. "She can’t cook like her mother can so you gotta get the pre-made stuff so you can just throw it in the oven.”
Amy Buckberrough, a fourth-year Queen’s University student, is in quarantine after being in close contact with a case of COVID-19.
Usually, Buckberrough says, Christmas would be getting together at the cottage, eating meals together, laughing and exchanging gifts.
Buckberrough says it's worth the trip.
"May as well make sure my daughter has the best Christmas experience she can have. We love her. We want her to not feel alone," he says.
Dropping off items on her doorstep, while she remains inside with two doors between them is as close as Buckberrough will get, to ensure they’re following all health guidelines.
Amy says she’ll spend Christmas virtually with her family, deciding to focus on the positive.
“There are so many families who aren’t able to see their loved ones, even this close, and there are so many families that don’t have anything. So I think we just have to cherish what we do have,” she says.
But as the far-apart goodbyes are exchanged, the good spirits, quickly give way to the reality of the situation.
"Sure would be nice to grab a hug right about now, but that’s not possible. It’s unfair to everybody else," says Michael Buckberrough.
As he prepares to make the long drive back alone, father and daughter, just hoping next year they’ll be together.
"It is what it is. It’s better than nothing like I said earlier but it’s what everyone has to do. Enough’s enough, right? Enough’s enough," he says.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Quebec nurse had to clean up after husband's death in Montreal hospital
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
Northern Ont. lawyer who abandoned clients in child protection cases disbarred
A North Bay, Ont., lawyer who abandoned 15 clients – many of them child protection cases – has lost his licence to practise law.
Bank of Canada officials split on when to start cutting interest rates
Members of the Bank of Canada's governing council were split on how long the central bank should wait before it starts cutting interest rates when they met earlier this month.
Maple Leafs fall to Bruins in Game 3, trail series 2-1
Brad Marchand scored twice, including the winner in the third period, and added an assist as the Boston Bruins downed the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-2 to take a 2-1 lead in their first-round playoff series Wednesday
Cuban government apologizes to Montreal-area family after delivering wrong body
Cuba's foreign affairs minister has apologized to a Montreal-area family after they were sent the wrong body following the death of a loved one.
'It was instant karma': Viral video captures failed theft attempt in Nanaimo, B.C.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.
What is changing about Canada's capital gains tax and how does it impact me?
The federal government's proposed change to capital gains taxation is expected to increase taxes on investments and mainly affect wealthy Canadians and businesses. Here's what you need to know about the move.
New Indigenous loan guarantee program a 'really big deal,' Freeland says at Toronto conference
Canada's Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland was among the 1,700 delegates attending the two-day First Nations Major Projects Coalition (FNMPC) conference that concluded Tuesday in Toronto.
'Life was not fair to him': Daughter of N.B. man exonerated of murder remembers him as a kind soul
The daughter of a New Brunswick man recently exonerated from murder, is remembering her father as somebody who, despite a wrongful conviction, never became bitter or angry.