Jan. 14, 2010
OK, let’s start with a trivia question. Where and
when did the only successful slave rebellion in history take place? No peeking;
the answer will be just a few sentences below. A hint for you: this former
colony of a European former superpower experienced a 13-year revolution
culminating in full independence in 1804. All the while, nation building in the
colonizing country following its own revolution led to neglect of its colonies.
Having lost this island colony as a base of operations in the new world, and
needing cash to fund his war machine, Napoleon (oops, giving it away now)
subsequently sold about one-quarter of the present United States of America to
his buddy Thomas Jefferson. Suddenly the new, small country of former slaves
was alone, with no allies or trading partners and few resources for building a nation.
So this black, francophone, upstart nation became a
pariah in the international community and has largely remained such to this
day. Collectively we have ignored the poverty and oppression in Haiti for
the last two centuries. Haiti is the
poorest country in the western hemisphere. If Haiti produced
oil and copper instead of coffee and sugarcane, how would history have
unfolded?
So now let’s see if we can walk our talk. I’m a bit
out of touch this month, two continents and nine time zones removed from my
home base. Regardless, I will be watching the news with interest to see if our
collective Canadian resources are mobilized to assist the Haitian population in
the wake of this week’s earthquake.
Supposedly, our main area of expertise in disaster relief is water
purification. And we have our HUSAR task forces, which are ready for
deployment. If we can’t be there for our Caribbean
neighbours in their time of desperate need then shame on us.
This month please keep this blog current. Let the
readership of Fire Fighting in Canada know
what is going on in your community with respect to Haitian earthquake relief. Haitians
may not look like most of us or speak like most of us, but they are our
brothers and sisters.
|
Peter Sells
Written by Peter Sells on 2010-01-18 23:24:26
Readers, please see this article by Joe Warmington in Monday's Toronto Sun:
http://www.torontosun.com/news/columnists/2010/01/18/12519546.html | Peter Sells
Written by Peter Sells on 2010-01-18 14:45:37
With all due respect to Captain Disaster, our federal government dropped the ball completely. There was time to deploy, and CANTF-3 was already in pre-deployment mode for an exercise when the quake hit. Statements by federal ministers such as "Toronto’s Heavy Urban Search and Rescue team wasn’t self-sufficient enough to send to Haiti" show a complete lack of understanding of where their federal funds have been going for the last few years. For Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon to say “When you deploy Canadian armed forces, they can hit the ground and they are literally capable of sustaining themselves, not only through food necessity but they do have the equipment required to camp there, to set up there” without realizing that CANTF-3 has exactly that same capacity is appalling. If they had come out and said "we can't deploy this close to the Olympics", that would at least have been reasonable, but I can't muster any other impression of our federal cabinet right now than that of a cluster of dithering imbeciles.
Haiti, we stand on guard for thee. And stand...and stand...
| Captain Disaster
Written by Captain Disaster on 2010-01-16 20:22:26
I don't think it was any surprise that CANTF-3 and other Canadian Assets were stood down. Although some had hoped that the team would still go as a political gesture, the timing just wasn't right. Nothing is to be gained by finger pointing, I offer a few observations for discussion when appropriate.
The Government of Canada needs to look at the international deployment of what at this point are still considered "Domestic" Assets. Notwithstanding the low priority the National HUSAR Program has within Public Safety Canada, The interaction between PSC and DFAIT needs to be enriched.
Further, the Government of Canada needs to decide what the Role of DART is. As many know, there were a couple of Working Groups looking at the future direction of Dart and HUSAR with respect to the role they are being asked to fulfill. Some good conclusions were made, but little was implemented. DART was never designed to be deployed early, nor are the Reconnaisance personnel, who are sent early, trained in the capabilities of a HUSAR Team, not to mention the UNDAC Reps.
At the end of the day, it was just time that prevented the deployment of HUSAR resources. If Canadian assets had been deployed earlier before the Port Au Prince Airport became congested, the team would have been deployed.
My Hat's off to those who work hard at staying ready, you're time will come. Well Done!
More To Follow!
|
|
