800 troops set for Haiti deployment
Soldiers to come from CFB Valcartier
Last Updated: Friday, January 15, 2010 | 10:12 PM ET
CBC News
Recent stories
Haiti earthquake
- SPECIAL REPORT | Haiti earthquake: A look back, 2 years after disaster crippled Caribbean country
- INTERACTIVE | Haiti earthquake: Two years later
- Q&A | Michaëlle Jean: 'You cannot build a sustainable economy on charity'
- Haiti's struggle to build better homes after quake
- POV | Are you satisfied with the government's response to the crisis in Haiti?
- Evaluating Haiti's 'fresh start' | David Common reports two years after the devastating quake
- Haiti quake camps still home to 500,000
- Haiti faces mix of problems 2 years after quake
- Haiti still recovering from deadly 2010 earthquake
- PHOTOS | Haiti since the earthquake
- Canadians in Haiti: Stories of loss and remembrance
- Michel Martelly | Deciphering Haiti's president-elect
- PROFILE | Haiti's Jean-Bertrand Aristide
- Haiti's Jean-Claude Duvalier
- Helping Haiti manage disaster
- TIMELINE | Haiti's recent history - From the Duvalier dictatorship to the return of 'Baby Doc'
- Donations to Haiti 1 year after quake
- Battling cholera in Haiti's frontier
- Paul Farmer: Rebuilding Haiti, but 'building back better'
- Rebuilding effort in Haiti 'at standstill'
- Haiti news archive (up to Jan. 18, 2011)
- PHOTOS | Six months later
- PHOTOS | Haiti's tent cities
Military personnel prepare to leave on a Disaster Assistance Response Team mission to Haiti on Wednesday. The army has 800 additional troops on standby. (Darren Calabrese/Canadian Press) The army has put 800 troops on standby for possible peacekeeping deployment to Haiti as the Canadian government continues to organize relief efforts for the earthquake-ravaged country, military sources have confirmed.
The troops are still waiting for a mandate from the government, expected to be announced Saturday morning by Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
The soldiers would be drawn from Canadian Forces Base Valcartier, near Quebec City.
The designated battalion is the French-speaking Royal 22nd Regiment, more commonly known as the Van Doos.
The deployment would include a "battalion light" of 450 soldiers, consisting of two infantry companies and a battalion headquarters.
The additional 350 personnel would include an engineering company, a service company, a logistics team and medical elements.
Warning orders have reportedly been flashed to the units earmarked for the assignment.
Sixty vehicles have also been pre-positioned for the mission.
Brig.-Gen. Guy Laroche, shown in 2007, will command the 800 soldiers expected to be sent to Haiti. (Jacques Boissinot/Canadian Press) The overall commander is slated to be Brig.-Gen. Guy Laroche, formerly Canada's top commander in Afghanistan.
The troops are said to be ready to start moving as soon as the mission is green-lighted, subject to the availability of aircraft.
Defence Minister Peter MacKay confirmed Friday that 144 Canadian military personnel are already on the ground with more to come.
Those troops are expected to help prepare for the arrival of the soldiers from Valcartier, sources said.
They include the first wave of Canada’s Disaster Assistance Response Team — a Hercules transport aircraft with a 20-person Canadian Forces assessment group.
Four more flights were expected to arrive Friday carrying rescue equipment, humanitarian supplies and additional RCMP and Canadian Forces members.
Two Canadian warships, HMCS Athabaskan and HMCS Halifax, are also expected to arrive in four days or so with additional relief equipment.
With files from The Canadian PressShare Tools
Latest Montreal News Headlines
- Quebec premier visits storm-stricken Magdalen Islands
- Quebec Premier Jean Charest is skipping out on the second day of the national assembly's winter session to visit people stricken by power blackouts in the Magdalen Islands. more »
- Montreal museum offers reward after artifact theft

- Quebec police are seeking the recovery of two ancient artifacts stolen from the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts last fall, with a substantial reward offered. more »
- 4km police chase ends in car breaking down
- Montreal police arrested an impaired driver late Tuesday night after a bumpy 4km chase. more »
- Immigrants the proudest Canadians, poll suggests

- Most Canadians feel immigrants are just as likely to be good Canadian citizens as people who were born here and don't object to them keeping their original citizenship, according to a recent Environics survey. more »
Top News Headlines
- Half of Canadians report being bullied as youth
- Half of Canadian adults polled say they were bullied as children or teenagers — and 62 per cent of those bullied say having an adult mentor would have helped them cope. more »
- Children of immigrants challenged at school, home
- By 2016, foreign-born youth and Canadian-born youth from immigrant families will make up a quarter of the country's population, according to predictions by the Canadian Council on Social Development. As their numbers grow, more attention is being paid to their successes and failures. more »
- Whitney Houston funeral to be livestreamed
- Whitney Houston's funeral will be livestreamed, to satisfy the desire of fans to grieve alongside family members at the Saturday memorial. more »
- B.C. house party trial hears from tearful teens
- Two teenagers cried as they testified Wednesday at the trial of a B.C. woman charged after a teen died at a party at her house in 2008. more »
Most Viewed/Commented
- Travellers at Trudeau airport witness flash mob
- 4km police chase ends in car breaking down
- Quebec premier visits storm-stricken Magdalen Islands
- Sweet Isabelle's sexy cookies a St. Valentine's hit
- Trudeau says sovereignty less of a bogeyman now
- Museum offers reward after artifact theft
- Quebec students strike over tuition fees
- Nexus cards now let U.S.-bound fliers fast-track screening
- Speaker denies CAQ party status

