NORTHCOM Gives Approval For Canadian Armed Forces To Provide Gustav Disaster Relief Services In Louisiana
Monday, 8. September 2008, 03:40:46
Bruce Campion-Smith of TheStar.com in article Canadian military lends a hand with Hurricane Gustav reports that a massive C-17 transport is flying hospital patients from New Orleans to safety and out of the path of Hurricane Gustav.
The Boeing C-17 and its crew of 12 "aeromedical" personnel specialized in medical evacuations arrived in Lakefront, La., around 5:30 p.m. yesterday, Defence Minister Peter Mackay said yesterday. "They are assisting in helping people who are currently hospitalized. They're looking at people who are in medically precarious situations," MacKay said in an interview.
"The plan is to get them out in advance of the storm."
Toronto-based Global Medic, a Canadian charity, is also poised to send medical assistance to New Orleans. "We notified the U.S. federal authorities that we would be able to deploy a few inflatable hospital units and water purification units if they request," Rahul Singh, the agency's emergency programs director, told the Star's Huixia Sun yesterday.
"Our personnel and equipment would act as a surge capacity to help their emergency system if it is overwhelmed," Singh said.
When Hurricane Katrina struck the region in 2005, some patients were left stranded – and some died – in New Orleans hospitals.
MacKay said Canada's aid efforts come at "minimal cost." "This is a purely humanitarian relief effort, in keeping with the best traditions of our country and I would call it a pre-emptive effort at relief and assistance," he said.
The decision to have Canadian personnel assist was made jointly by the two nations and was prompted by a specific request for the plane from the U.S. Northern Command Commander, MacKay said.
"I think the Canadian Forces have proven experience in disaster relief operations and humanitarian assistance. They value that," he said.
MacKay said it's the first operational exercise since Canada and the United States signed an agreement in 2007 formalizing the traditional cross-border assistance provided by each country's armed forces in natural disasters such as this.
But it's not the first time the two nations have cooperated. Canada dispatched military help, including engineers, navy divers and three warships laden with supplies, to the Gulf Coast region after Katrina.
MacKay said the military is ready to offer additional resources after the storm has passed, such as its disaster assistance response team (DART), or help from a Canadian frigate, HMCS St. John, in the area.
"This situation will no doubt evolve as the weather does."
He said the operation proves the utility of Canada' four C-17s, noting that one of the jets ferried relief aid to hurricane-battered Jamaica last summer. The transport jets can each carry 144 passengers.
The Department of Foreign Affairs is advising Canadians against non-essential travel to the northern coast of the Gulf of Mexico, including New Orleans. A spokesperson says about 4,000 Canadians are believed to be in Louisiana and up to 30,000 in Texas.
Greater economic, political, and military integration has been and is now taking place with Canada since the announcement of the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America, the SPP, on March 23, 2005.
Leader's Agreements, and Command Authority, not treaties approved by the US Senate, now define and specify working relationships between the US and other nations.
Presented below is a photo from the Baylor University web site showing Condoleezza Rice And George Bush as they were greeted by Baylor University's Robert B. Sloan Jr. and members of his staff immediately prior to the announcement of the Security and Prosperity Partnership, the SPP, on March 23, 2005.
Mr. Sloan said: "It is an honor for Baylor University to host the leaders of the United States, Canada and Mexico," and he continued: "Here at Baylor, we want to teach our students to serve. Baylor today had the opportunity to serve on behalf of our country and the world, and it is a tremendous privilege for Baylor to host this trilateral meeting."
The Security And Prosperity Partnership provides state corporate rule to deal with systemic risk, that is systemic failures such as debt guarantor insolvencies, natural disasters, and outbreak of pandemic disease, such as avian influenza as mentioned in the Leader's Joint Statement of March, 31, 2006 in Cancun, Mexico.
The photo below is of President George Bush with Robert J Stevens of Lockheed Martin and other business leaders in a March 2006 Security and Prosperity Partnership "Progress Meeting" held at the Cancun Summit.
Canada's Stephen Harper, spoke before the Economic Club of New York, where he related the need for a continental response to overseas threats to the continent's security and prosperity.
Should any type of threat to North American security and prosperity develop, there will be a coordinated resolution thereof as evidenced by the news report above.
The Boeing C-17 and its crew of 12 "aeromedical" personnel specialized in medical evacuations arrived in Lakefront, La., around 5:30 p.m. yesterday, Defence Minister Peter Mackay said yesterday. "They are assisting in helping people who are currently hospitalized. They're looking at people who are in medically precarious situations," MacKay said in an interview.
"The plan is to get them out in advance of the storm."
Toronto-based Global Medic, a Canadian charity, is also poised to send medical assistance to New Orleans. "We notified the U.S. federal authorities that we would be able to deploy a few inflatable hospital units and water purification units if they request," Rahul Singh, the agency's emergency programs director, told the Star's Huixia Sun yesterday.
"Our personnel and equipment would act as a surge capacity to help their emergency system if it is overwhelmed," Singh said.
When Hurricane Katrina struck the region in 2005, some patients were left stranded – and some died – in New Orleans hospitals.
MacKay said Canada's aid efforts come at "minimal cost." "This is a purely humanitarian relief effort, in keeping with the best traditions of our country and I would call it a pre-emptive effort at relief and assistance," he said.
The decision to have Canadian personnel assist was made jointly by the two nations and was prompted by a specific request for the plane from the U.S. Northern Command Commander, MacKay said.
"I think the Canadian Forces have proven experience in disaster relief operations and humanitarian assistance. They value that," he said.
MacKay said it's the first operational exercise since Canada and the United States signed an agreement in 2007 formalizing the traditional cross-border assistance provided by each country's armed forces in natural disasters such as this.
But it's not the first time the two nations have cooperated. Canada dispatched military help, including engineers, navy divers and three warships laden with supplies, to the Gulf Coast region after Katrina.
MacKay said the military is ready to offer additional resources after the storm has passed, such as its disaster assistance response team (DART), or help from a Canadian frigate, HMCS St. John, in the area.
"This situation will no doubt evolve as the weather does."
He said the operation proves the utility of Canada' four C-17s, noting that one of the jets ferried relief aid to hurricane-battered Jamaica last summer. The transport jets can each carry 144 passengers.
The Department of Foreign Affairs is advising Canadians against non-essential travel to the northern coast of the Gulf of Mexico, including New Orleans. A spokesperson says about 4,000 Canadians are believed to be in Louisiana and up to 30,000 in Texas.
Greater economic, political, and military integration has been and is now taking place with Canada since the announcement of the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America, the SPP, on March 23, 2005.
Leader's Agreements, and Command Authority, not treaties approved by the US Senate, now define and specify working relationships between the US and other nations.
Presented below is a photo from the Baylor University web site showing Condoleezza Rice And George Bush as they were greeted by Baylor University's Robert B. Sloan Jr. and members of his staff immediately prior to the announcement of the Security and Prosperity Partnership, the SPP, on March 23, 2005.
Mr. Sloan said: "It is an honor for Baylor University to host the leaders of the United States, Canada and Mexico," and he continued: "Here at Baylor, we want to teach our students to serve. Baylor today had the opportunity to serve on behalf of our country and the world, and it is a tremendous privilege for Baylor to host this trilateral meeting."
The Security And Prosperity Partnership provides state corporate rule to deal with systemic risk, that is systemic failures such as debt guarantor insolvencies, natural disasters, and outbreak of pandemic disease, such as avian influenza as mentioned in the Leader's Joint Statement of March, 31, 2006 in Cancun, Mexico.
The photo below is of President George Bush with Robert J Stevens of Lockheed Martin and other business leaders in a March 2006 Security and Prosperity Partnership "Progress Meeting" held at the Cancun Summit.
Canada's Stephen Harper, spoke before the Economic Club of New York, where he related the need for a continental response to overseas threats to the continent's security and prosperity.
Should any type of threat to North American security and prosperity develop, there will be a coordinated resolution thereof as evidenced by the news report above.
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