I'm ashamed of Canada

[yvr girl]

First, we have budget surpluses but can only come up with 3.8 million in aid for a massive international tragedy. That's not the Canada I know.

Second, we don't send DART...again. If this isn't a disaster worth deploying - what is. We haven't sent them anywhere in 5 years. I think we don't want to spend the money. Are military is an embarrassment. I don't want to be a military power, but we should be able to provide humanitarian relief.

The following story is from www.ctv.ca

Canadian officials say they'll focus on consular activities and relief supplies to help victims of Sunday's massive tsunami, and are defending a decision not to deploy a crack disaster team known as DART.

It was believed that Canada might send the military's Canadian Forces Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) to southeast Asia.

DART is a mobile medical unit that provides primary medical care, production of safe drinking water and limited specialist engineering capability.

Officials say that for now, DART isn't needed and hasn't been requested.

"It seems the DART is not the right tool at this time,'' Col. Guy Laroche of the Department of National Defence told a media briefing three days after the crisis hit.

"We don't want to deploy something if it's not going to be useful,'' said Elissa Golberg with the Foreign Affairs department.

It costs at least $8 million to put the DART team in the field. It was last used five years ago to assist with a massive earthquake in Turkey, and that mission cost $15 million.

"This is maybe a test and our wake up call to our government," says Conservative foreign aid critic Ted Menzies. "We've depleted this military in all its facets so that Canada isn't capable of contributing on the world scene like we should be able to."

The first shipment of relief supplies left Tuesday afternoon from CFB Trenton aboard a Defence Department Airbus. The airplane will make its first stop in Sri Lanka, before carrying on to other devastated areas.

The plane is carrying rolls of heavy plastic to make shelters, gerry cans to carry water, and water purification tablets.

As well, Serge Paquet of Foreign Affairs said additional consular staff were sent to Bangkok, Phuket and Colombo. "We will continue supplementing staffing levels at the missions affected," he said.

As roads start to re-open, Paquet said additional information about the devastation has started to trickle in.

Canada has already announced a $4 million donation for tsunami relief efforts. The money will go to the International Red Cross and other Canadian non-governmental organizations.

Groups like the Red Cross and UNICEF are asking those eager to help to donate cash instead of goods.

[Florida_Geek]

1. I have a problem with this

"Groups like the Red Cross and UNICEF are asking those eager to help to donate cash instead of goods."

Why does the Red Cross want $$$$$$$$$$$$ and not medical supplies and things like that. What are they going to Wally Mart to buy things.

something is fucked up here.

[arcos]

3. because people need water and medicines more urgently...

It is cheaper to send the bottled water from a nearby place, than what it costs to ship it from the US.

And medicines, well, they know better what is needed. I think it makes sense...

[xchrom]

4. that's been the policy for a long time.

you aren't the only one who has a hard time with it.
the issues regarding administrative costs are being continuously trotted out and then swept under the rug when tragedies like this occur.
unfortunately, now is not the time to pick at bones -- we must do what we can where we can.

[roguevalley]

5. they can buy locally, culturally appropriate food, help businesses

wiped out and needing to get going again and save shipping costs. Its much faster and helps a lot.

[yvr girl]

6. They also try to buy as much locally as they can to

rebuild the economy.

The biggest savings come in transportation and importation.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

2. At least you have DART

that's my idea of what a nation should send to other nations, rather than troops and destruction. Maybe DART will be sent later, once the true needs are assessed.

[yvr girl]

7. What good is DART if we don't send it anywhere

It hasn't been deployed in 5 years.

They are expert at purifying water - massive amounts of it. Don't tell me that wouldn't be useful. Everything I hear is that thousands more are going to die of disease caused by unsanitary conditions.

[nine23]

8. The 4 million is the first, initial response/donation...

...there will be more to come. It was based on reports on Boxing Day, when the full extent of the damage wasn't really known.

And if DART is not requested, then I don't see why it should be sent (at least for now.). DART would be needed more in Sri Lanka as opposed to Thailand/Indonesia; India has an enourmous military already on the scene there.

AND TO CANADIANS READING THIS: Donate some freakin' money. Don't leave it up to the government, although we'll expect them to contribute accordingly. (Every single chartered bank/credit union in the country is accepting donations on behalf of a half dozen charities/NGO's).

[oblivious]

9. The government's explanation makes perfect sense to me.

They've offered DARTS's services to governments and aid agencies there, but no immediate requests have come back. Sri Lanka has said it has enough medical professionals to handle the situation at this point. Canada's waiting for the Indonesian situation to be assessed.

DART is supposed to be a medium-term help, not first response. It will surely be deployed when countries or aid agencies ask for it. Do you really believe the government is holding it back because they want to save money? It's really hard to respect the conservatives for trying to make political hay out of this.

[demnan]

10. Why don't you write to your parliment member?

or call?

[Spazito]

11. Canada is pledging 40 million as of today...

and they are sending a team to assess whether DART would be helpful, if so, they will be sent. I am glad we have upped the donation as it is so badly needed.

Edited to add link:

http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/national/2004/12/29/dart-tsunami041229.html

[yvr girl]

12. I was glad to hear it too

BC is also giving 8 million.

[HamiltonHabs32]

13. if DART isnt helpful during this disaster...

what is the point of DART, they should have been since day 1

[Swede]

14. DART is just a small part of a huge solution.

Donate to the Red Cross if this upsets you.

What does DART do?

DART consists of about 200 Canadian Forces staff who can ship out quickly to conduct emergency relief operations for up to 40 days.

The team has four main goals:
Provide basic medical care: Its tented medical aid station can serve up to 250 outpatients and 10 inpatients a day. The medical platoon treats minor injuries and tries to keep diseases from spreading, but doesn't perform surgeries. The aid station includes a lab, a pharmacy, limited obstetrics services and rehydration and preventative medicine section.


Produce safe drinking water: Water purification staff can produce up to 50,000 litres of potable water a day, as well as chlorinating local wells and monitoring water supplies.


Repair basic infrastructure: Engineers can fix roads and bridges, repair electrical and water supply systems and build refugee camps.


Make communication easier: DART sets up facilities to make communication easier between everyone involved in the relief effort, including the afflicted country, non-governmental organizations and UN aid agencies.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/cdnmilitary/dart.html

[yvr girl]

15. Canadians have been donating huge amounts to the Red Cross

and other organizations.

I was ashamed of Canada, because they weren't doing enough (the government.) Since my original post, Canada has stepped up. I'm not ashamed anymore.

[Lisa]

16. I'm glad that we helped them upgrade the Colombo airport

http://www.dfait-maeci.gc.ca/department/history/dcer/details-en.asp?intRefId=3410
http://www.david-kilgour.com/secstate/srilanka.htm

And their roads and other transportation infrastructure, a while back. If that investment helps them get the international aid distributed more efficiently -- it was well worth it. A warehouse full of stuff (whether it's flown in from other continents, or purchased locally, which is arguably better in terms of keeping the money in the country) isn't going to help much unless they can get it to the afflicted regions.

Still, given that we are in much better economic shape than a lot of other countries, we can afford to dig into our pockets. (I've decided to give most of last week's paycheque -- it means I won't be able to buy some things I'd been looking forward to, but that seems a minor sacrifice on my part.)


p.s. wasn't DART intended for a smaller restricted region (e.g. a single city?). It sounds like they might have to reconfigure to fit a new mandate -- seems like many of the recent disasters are affecting much larger areas, where confusion or bureaucracy are making the "wait until we're invited" policy a bit of a problem.

Also, we should get one of those big transport aircraft for DART (instead of having to rent them from some other country, or prevail on the Americans to give us a lift). Or figure out some way of making its gear more portable, so it'll fit into our existing fleet. (That might actually be better, since it's possible that it might have to go to places which don't have runways long enough for those Antonovs, or whatever they'e called.)