Canada Rushes to Haiti's Aid
As hopeless as conditions were in Haiti before the earthquake, they are even more critical now – and the world seems to be responding, especially the U.S., the most generous nation in the history of the world.
Canada, too, responded quickly.
Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff put politics on the back burner and endorsed the government’s initial $5 million disaster pledge, and hoped it would match private contributions dollar-for-dollar, as was done in the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami in the South Pacific.
The $5 million federal donation is only a start. As in the 2004 tsunami, schools, piggy banks, ordinary people will start contributing. There are roughly 100,000 Canadians of Haitian-origin, and likely they’ll be big contributors.
From past experiences, arguably the single greatest contribution Canada can make to the unfortunates in Port au Prince and the earthquake zone is the 200-member army Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART), which is already arriving at the scene.
DART’s vital contribution in natural disasters is the ability to produce fresh water -- some 200,000 liters a day, as in the Sri Lanka tsunami crisis. DART also rescued people, helped build shelters, repair roads, give medical treatment. DART is run by soldiers who are trained to act quickly.
In Sri Lanka, DART tended to 6,000 victims and provided 2.5 million liters of fresh water, and military families in Petawawa raised money for schools that was channeled through DART, which was more effective locally than big aid agencies.
Our government would be wise to give the DART commander access to money – say $100,000 – for local emergency use. He’ll need it.
Put bluntly, private money pledged which the government may match, will almost certainly go to the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) – and CIDA’s record at natural disasters leaves much to be desired. It is a bureaucracy and has its own agenda. In Sri Lanka, CIDA was often at odds with DART, whose only agenda was alleviating the misery as effectively as possible.
The Sun’s reporter with DART in the Sri Lankan tsunami was video documentary producer Garth Pritchard, arguably Canada’s top documentary filmmaker on military missions (Somalia, Burma, the Balkans, Afghanistan).
Pritchard’s reports illustrated DART’s vital role in supplying clean water and rebuilding while professional aid groups often dithered, held meetings, drove Land Rovers.
The head of CARE (Canada), John Watson, called the DART response in Sri Lanka as “amateur.” According to others who were there, it was the most effective of our aid operations. Bickering among aid agencies is as common as in-fighting among animal rights people.
Haiti’s PM has estimated the death toll at 100,000 – a statistic that boggles comprehension. Canada has some 95 police posted in Haiti to help in training, and 75 embassy staff. An estimated 6,000 Canadians live in Haiti, most of whom have little to do with our embassy.
As for DART, it was started in 1996, and has an annual budget of around $500,000. As well as the tsunami in Sri Lanka DART provided medical aid and water in Honduras, 1998 where a hurricane killed 6,000; Turkey after a 1999 earthquake; Pakistan in 2004. Its value has been repeatedly proven.
As for donations, the Red Cross, Doctors Without Borders, various religious relief organizations are the most effective, and with whom DART has cooperated in the past.
DART – once again, one of Canada’s more effective front line aid agencies.