Ottawa's Haiti response: A new fight over immigration?



8:30 a.m. - In a morning briefing, Defence Minister Lawrence Cannon says the number of Canadians unaccounted for in the affected areas in Haiti has gone down to 543, from 665 the previous day.

The number of Canadians located has risen to 1681. Sixteen flights carrying a total of 1441 evacuees have been completed.

Foreign Affairs can only confirm 13 Canadian deaths at this point, Cannon says. The United Nations has not confirmed or denied the death of Alexandra Duguay, 31, from Quebec City, who was a communications officer for the UN mission in Haiti.

Cannon says he spoke to the Canadian ambassador in Haiti, who confirmed the embassy suffered some damage to the roof and door from this morning's magnitude-6.1 quake. There were no injuries at the compound, Cannon says.

8:42 a.m. - Defence Minister Peter MacKay says Canada now has more than 1,000 Canadian Forces personnel on the ground taking part in the "unprecedented" effort, particularly in the Jacmel-Leogane area.

The port at Jacmel has reportedly been "gravely" damaged and humanitarian relief teams have had to use certain types of boats in order to get supplies and personnel from ships.

CF members have been working to increase the capacity of Jacmel's air field through adding lighting and radar, he says. Once the air strip has been cleared for use, CF aircraft will be able to fly in directly and avoid the congestion seen at Port-au-Prince airport, MacKay says.

8:49 a.m. - Immigration Minister Jason Kenney says his department is working to reunite families affected by this crisis, including expediting adoption cases that were already in the system when the earthquake struck.

He says once Canadian officials receive confirmation from the Haitian government that an expedited adoption approval committee is in place there, Canada will begin issuing temporary residence permits to allow Haitian children to enter Canada.

"We cannot take Haitian children away without approval of the local authorities," he says, adding that regular processing fees will be waved and the federal government will cover health costs until the children can be covered under provincial programs.

He says his department is working to contact all adoptive parents by noon today to let them know what Canadian officials are doing. Immigration staff will be sent to Port-au-Prince to help with these and other files, Kenney says.

12:15 p.m. - In a stepped-up critique of the Conservatives' performance on the Haiti response, Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff calls on the government to relax immigration requirements by broadening the definition of family to include brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews and cousins, in cases involving Haiti.

(Fred Chartrand/Canadian Press) 

He notes the Quebec government has already expressed a willingness to take in Haitians in the wake of the "complete collapse of social, medical and political order" in the country.

"We're saying let's step up and do something exceptional in this case," Ignatieff says. 

2:19 p.m. - From colleague Kady O'Malley's liveblog: Like Ignatieff, NDP Leader Jack Layton touches on the issue of family reunification in a Haitian immigration context, and calls on the government to "keep that generous spirit on the go."

Layton does not call on the minister to expand the family class definition, although as NDP MP Olivia Chow pointed out as she was heading to the caucus bleachers, it's not like the NDP wasn't saying that a week ago.

5:10 p.m. - Layton, on Power & Politics with Evan Solomon, says the government is moving too slowly on bringing in the immigration changes and should expand the definition of family in general in the family reunification process, which he describes as "painfully slow."

He acknowledges the government has made "some very good and fast moves" in its response to the disaster, but adds it's the job of the opposition to push for the government.

"Here we are with a crisis where the longer the folks have to stay in Haiti and not be with their extended families here, the more their lives are at risk," Layton says.

"So we think this is a case for an extraordinary effort on the part of the government."

5:26 p.m. - Kenney, also on Power & Politics, says the government is following the precedent set by the previous Liberal government following the 2004 tsunami and he hopes that the applications from Haiti will be resolved within "weeks or months."

The international relief effort in Haiti is focused on reconstruction, not depopulation he says, while noting Canadian immigration law defines the definition of family.

"That's the limit I can work within," Kenney says. "We are going to that limit with enormous flexibility."

Expanding the definition, he adds, to welcome anyone with a Canadian relative could result in "chaos" from tens of thousands of new applications.

"It's very important in immigration policy that you be consistent and fair," he says.

5:39 p.m. - Liberal foreign affairs critic Bob Rae tells Solomon that Kenney, as immigration minister, has the power to admit people on humanitarian and compassionate grounds

"In order to exercise it properly, you have to allocate the resources to get it done, and that's what we're calling on Minister Kenney to do," Rae says.