A member of the Ottawa Police Services is getting ready to head back to Haiti after just a week at home.

Const. Jean Luc Bonin was six months into a nine-month assignment in Haiti when the earthquake struck.

The 27-year-old was in Haiti to help train local police officers as part of the UN stabilization mission. After the quake, his job changed and he became a humanitarian escort, helping search and rescue crews pick their way through the rubble in Port-au-Prince.

"The reason escorts are needed is to ensure that the search and rescue team or the food gets to the right location without taking too many detours," Bonin said. "Having been there for six months, we know the city."

Bonin spent two weeks working on the relief effort, but was forced to return to Canada for mandatory health assessments. Now, after passing all the tests, Bonin is preparing to return to his post in Haiti on Monday.

"For me personally, my mission wasn’t completed. In my calculation, I still owe three months," Bonin said.

"In a way, I always saw Haiti as kind of like the Olympics of policing, because there’s so much crime and need that you can do a lot of difference with, you know, just a little bit of skill. So it’s something I hold dear to myself," Bonin said.

Bonin will see some familiar faces in Haiti, as 34 local police officers are set to deploy to the country in the coming weeks.