Quebecers organize aid for Haiti

Members of Montreal's Haitian community are scrambling to organize aid for the struggling Caribbean nation and many are still trying to reach family members following Tuesday's devastating earthquake.

The city is home to the largest community of Haitian diaspora in Canada, about 102,000 strong.

Community members gathered Wednesday evening at the La Perle Retrouvée Haitian Cultural Centre in the city’s Saint-Michel district to discuss how to help.

Another meeting was held earlier in the day at community organization La Maison d’Haiti.

Emmanuel Dubourg, the provincial politician for Viau, broke down in tears after finally contacting his sister.

He is helping community members organize an appeal for donations to non-government organizations including the Red Cross, which are already at work on the ground.

Villeray-Saint-Michel-Parc-Extension Coun. Frantz Benjamin was trying to reach his father until early Wednesday morning.

Now, he said he is too busy to dwell on his own problems.

"We don't have enough time for emotion," Benjamin said. "The time is now to work on mobilization — on solidarity, on generosity."

Province offers help

Quebec Premier Jean Charest said the government is also ready to provide human and material resources to help.

He said police officers from across the province who have experience working in Haiti are readying themselves for possible deployment.

'It's like we're paying for something — we don't know what .... I hope that it's time that if we had to pay for something, we paid enough.' —Haitian-born Montrealer Tetchena Bellange

The province is also offering French-speaking medical staff to help set up a field hospital as well as firefighters with experience in search and rescue.

"We’re working with the federal government so we can arrange the transport of those people  as rapidly as we can,  make sure that we land them as safely and organized in a way where they can be effective as soon as they hit the ground," Charest said.

Other government organizations — including Hydro-Québec and the agency that enforces the province’s building code, the Régie du Batiment — are also offering help, Charest said.

A special operation will also be launched to provide assistance to Canadians arriving from Haiti at Montreal's Trudeau airport — similar to an operation that took place to help those fleeing the conflict in Lebanon during the summer of 2006.

The government will look at possible financial aid later, Charest said.

The premier said the government has still been unable to reach six of its own employees in Haiti.

Charest acknowledged there is also concern for the well-being of former MP and provincial minister Serge Marcil, who has not been heard from.

"What concerns us all right now — what creates a great level of anxiety is the inability to communicate with people in Haiti because the communications are down," Charest said. "Re-establishing the ability to communicate is a high priority so we can know  what's happening."

Communication still difficult

That uncertainty brought many Montrealers of Haitian origin to the Méli-Mélo restaurant in the city’s Villeray district in search of some comfort food, including Gerald Pelletier.

Pelletier has been unable to reach his mother and 14-year-old daughter in Port-au-Prince.

"I've tried on the cellphones … but no one is answering," Pelletier said.

After 24 hours of trying to get through to her aunt, Tetchena Bellange finally got an answering machine.

"It's like we're paying for something — we don't know what," Bellange said. "There have been storms — like all the [hurricanes] and politically, economically, it has not been easy.

"I hope that it's time that if we had to pay for something, we paid enough," Bellange said.