Aid for the Philippines Continues

OTTAWA – International – Support for the Philippines is continuing to arrive from Canada. Aid from Canada is now over $16 million and climbing.

Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) will deploy three CH-146 Griffon helicopters and aircrew to further support the Government of Canada’s humanitarian assistance and relief efforts in the Philippines.

Two of the three aircraft are scheduled to deploy tomorrow from Canadian Forces Base (CFB) Trenton aboard a CC-177 Globemaster III.

The Government of Canada and all Canadians are committed to helping relief and stabilization efforts in the Philippines, said Minister Nicholson. These helicopters will provide the Disaster Assistance Response Team with additional means to reach and help those who desperately need our assistance.

Speaking at a fundraising musical concert by local Filipino-Canadian artists, Lois Brown, Member of Parliament and Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of International Development, Christian Paradis, commended the compassion and generosity of Canadians for responding time and again to the needs of people affected by natural disasters and other crises around the world. PS Brown called on Canadians to continue to give generously to the urgent relief efforts to assist those affected by Typhoon Haiyan.

Humanitarian Aid to Recover from  Typhon Haiyan

“We must do all that we can to help the victims of Typhoon Haiyan,” said PS Brown. “When natural disasters have struck in the past, we have seen Canadians step up to the plate and deliver. The donations that have already been collected are making a huge impact on the ground in the Philippines.”

Today’s concert fundraiser was organized by a movement of Filipino-Canadians across the Greater Toronto Area as part of efforts to raise funds for those affected by the devastating typhoon. All eligible proceeds from the event will be channelled to World Vision’s typhoon relief fund and matched by the Government of Canada. Donations and pledges from Canadians to World Vision have reached more than $1.6 million so far, which has enabled the organization to help close to 4,000 people affected by the typhoon, providing them with food and hygiene kits.

“World Vision is committed to provide relief to the Philippines emergency response,” said Dave Toycen, President of World Vision Canada. “With the generous support of Canadians, we are urgently assisting families who need food, water, hygiene kits, emergency shelter, and child protection.”

To date, individual Canadians and Canadian businesses combined have already donated almost $16 million in support of the relief effort in the Philippines. The Government of Canada established the Typhoon Haiyan Relief Fund on November 10, 2013, and is committed to match dollar for dollar all eligible donations made between November 9 and December 9, 2013, by individual Canadians to registered Canadian charities responding to the crisis.

Royal Canadian Air Force Deploys 

The Royal Canadian Air Force crews that will fly the CH-146 during Operation RENAISSANCE are based out of 408 Tactical Helicopter Squadron, located at CFB Edmonton. The airframes will come from Canadian Forces Base Valcartier in Quebec and Canadian Forces Base Borden in Ontario. The Griffon’s primary role is tactical transportation of personnel, equipment and material. The Griffon helicopter can be used in a number of roles such as providing tactical airlift to soldiers, rescuing civilians in remote areas of the world and providing support during natural disasters. Other roles are search and rescue (SAR) missions, surveillance and reconnaissance, casualty evacuation and counter-drug operations.

The Griffon helicopter has also played a key role in many national and international humanitarian relief operations, including Manitoba’s Red River flood in 1997 (Operation ASSISTANCE) and in 2011 (Op FORGE); Eastern Canada’s ice storm in 1998 (Operation RECUPERATION); the United Nations effort to stabilize Haiti in 2004 (Operation HALO); and again in response to the catastrophic earthquake that struck Port-aux-Prince in January 2010 (Op HESTIA). Most recently, the Griffon helicopters deployed on Operation JAGUAR in 2011, as Canada’s contribution of military aviation and search-and-rescue capability to support the Jamaica Defence Force.