12 Canadians confirmed dead in Haiti
Number of dead rises from 8, missing total drops to 849
Last Updated: Monday, January 18, 2010 | 10:08 PM ET
CBC News
Twelve Canadians have been confirmed dead and 849 are still unaccounted for in Haiti since last week's devastating earthquake, the Department of Foreign Affairs said Monday afternoon.
The number of confirmed dead is up from eight on Sunday, while the number of Canadians unaccounted for has dropped from 1,115. The number of Canadians located and accounted for has risen to 1,484 from Sunday's 1,122.
Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon said the situation in Haiti remained "fragile."
"We still face a large number of challenges," he said from Ottawa.
"We continue to do everything we can to locate all Canadians so they can rejoin families and friends here in Canada."
An unidentified man, right, embraces a Canadian search and rescue technician after being evacuated from Groave, approximately 50 kilometres west of Port-au-Prince on Sunday. (Tyler Anderson/Canadian Press) Canadians are still being evacuated from the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince and the surrounding region, with 11 flights returning 947 evacuees to Canada since last week.
Another flight with about 40 people was scheduled to arrive in Montreal on Monday morning, said Cannon. Some 20 Canadians remain at the Canadian Embassy.
Montreal summit planned
Defence Minister Peter MacKay said Monday that Canada has delivered some 313 tonnes of aid and equipment to Haiti as part of Canada's relief effort.
Canadian ships HMCS Athabaskan and HMCS Halifax, both loaded with relief supplies, were expected to be off the coast of Haiti by Tuesday. HMCS Halifax was headed for Jacmel, on the country's south coast, while HMCS Athabaskan was going to Leogane, west of Port-au-Prince.
MacKay said Sunday that an additional 1,000 Canadian Forces personnel will be sent to Haiti.
On Thursday, the trucks and equipment of the Royal 22nd Regiment will start being loaded onto a commercial transport ship bound for Haiti. The ship will have a sailing time of five to seven days.
Cannon said Haiti's Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive and foreign ministers from the 16 countries that make up the Group of Friends of Haiti have agreed to meet in Montreal on Jan. 25 to make plans for a larger conference to develop a long-term plan for the reconstruction of Haiti.
"This will be an opportunity to re-evaluate the situation in Haiti and see to it that the UN [will] be able to focus its efforts and international efforts to better assist the Haitian people," said Cannon.
