I snuggled up in my
comfortable existence last night, nice house, warm bed - yellow lab
secure and comfortably snoring and turned on "The National" in hopes of
some updates on the horrible quake that shook Haiti that afternoon. It
was the "top story" as Peter reported and immediately went into the
dire conditions of Port-au-Prince and what followed did not surprise
me. Hilary Clinton was camera ready, well coiffed and while she sent
the usual prayers to family and victims, she sent help. The U.S.
announced immediate deployment of their disaster relief team, and well,
Canada had to think about it. Oh, there was a promise from Harper and
our Foreign Affairs Minister, Lawrence Cannon that Canada will help -
but just rhetoric, nothing else. Remember the 2004 Tsunami, Canada
waited a week before sending DART. I remember December 26, 2004 well
as I had just given birth to my youngest - (Owen Henry December 23rd)
and received a call from my father. Did I hear the news? My oldest
son was vacationing with his Dad in Thailand - I know how a disaster
affects people. My son was completely unaffected as he was in Northern
Thailand on an inland bay resort. Do we not learn from our past
mistakes? Why the lack of action?
So we have people crying and wondering about their
families and loved ones - a hospital collapsed, bodies are strewn on
the streets and encased in the rubble - and we, as a nation did not
immediately commit to deploying DART? Well, I am sure the PM and Mr.
Cannon had their assistants surveying the situation and thankfully due
to the wonderful social media tools we have they got the message. A
story published by the Globe and Mail at 8:00 a.m this morning
confirmed that 20 out of the 200 members of the DART team have been
sent to assess the situation. Am I satisfied? Not really, it is not
rocket science to determine the needs of nearly 3 million people who
have been ravaged by this horrific event. Lets' hope they learn this
time.
Lisa Vezeau-Allen
Executive Director, The Sault Youth Association
Editor, The Fresh Magazine
Photo Credit:
Daniel Morel/AFP/Getty Images
Photo Credit: Globe and Mail