Soldiers at CFB Valcartier prepare for deployment to Haiti. (CBC)Eight hundred soldiers at Canadian Forces Base Valcartier in Quebec are anxiously waiting to get the green light to deploy to Haiti and help the country recover from last week's devastating earthquake.

Defence Minister Peter McKay and Chief of Defence Staff Gen. Walt Natynczyk visited the base near Quebec City Monday to meet with the soldiers and to provide an overview of their mission.

The humanitarian mission will complement the work being done by Canada's Disaster Assistance Relief Team, Natyncyzk said.

The soldiers will be serving as engineers, medics and security forces.

'I got into the army to do things like this. We have to step in to help other populations.'—Warrant Officer Christian Doucet

"The destruction from the earthquake is massive as we've all seen," he said. "So, what we've done is provide a much more significant capability that can actually go beyond just a medical platoon."

The deployment will include a full squadron of engineers capable of opening up roads, repairing bridges and shoring up buildings, he said.

The troops will be stationed in an area southwest of the capital, Port-au-Prince, between the towns of Jacmel and Léogane.

"The epicentre of the earthquake is right there, and we understand there is about 90 per cent of destruction in this town of Léogane," Natyncyzk said.

Soldiers welcome humanitarian work

The mission is a welcome return to humanitarian work for the Valcartier soldiers, whose participation in Canada's combat mission in Afghanistan was not well received in Quebec.

"One of the challenges is, everyone wants to go," Natynczyk said.Canada's chief of defence staff, Gen. Walt Natynczyk, said many soldiers are expressing interest in being part of the mission in Haiti. (CBC)

"I got into the army to do things like this," said Warrant Officer Christian Doucet, who returned from Afghanistan in October and volunteered for the Haiti mission. "We have to step in to help other populations."

The work won't be easy, acknowledged 19-year-old Cpl. Dany Morin, who will be on his first mission overseas.

"I've seen images of what is going on over there," Morin said. "It will be mentally difficult.

"We're also talking maybe about odours that will be disagreeable. I don't expect to be having fun over there."

The troops could spend one to two months in Haiti, Natyczyk said.