Foreign Affairs Committee on Feb. 28th, 2011

[The Chair, Conservative, Dean Allison]

Welcome, everyone.

Pursuant to Standing Order 108(2), our study on the Canadian and international disaster response and the situation in Haiti will commence.

I want to thank the Canadian Red Cross for being here today. I know an informal meeting was set up with some members and it was very informative and we're glad we could have you back officially and on the record. We can go from there.

Susan, will you be speaking? We'll give you ten minutes to make your statement and then all committee members will have a chance to ask some follow-up questions on what we're doing.

Ms. Johnson, thanks for being here. The floor is yours.

[Susan Johnson, Director General, International Operations, Canadian Red Cross]

Thank you very much.

Thank you, Mr. Chair, for the invitation to speak to the committee today. I will make a few remarks, but I'm also going to ask my colleague, Richard Clair, to make a few remarks.

The Canadian Red Cross always welcomes the opportunity to engage with parliamentarians, both on domestic and on international issues.

I am going to make my comments in English. But if the committee members ask questions in French, I can answer in French. My presentation will include a few words in French, but I will speak mainly in English.

We're here on behalf of our secretary general, Conrad Sauvé, who's in Haiti today attending on behalf of the International Federation of Red Cross the meeting of the interim commission for the reconstruction of Haiti that is taking place in Haiti today.

We'll be brief with our opening comments, and we look forward to answering your questions and participating in this important discussion. I would like to take a moment to introduce myself and my colleagues who are here with me.

My name is Susan Johnson. I am the director general for the international operations of the Canadian Red Cross and I've been with the Red Cross movement for about 12 years, here in Canada, in Geneva, and in New York.

Richard Clair was until very recently our country director in Haiti. He has been there for the last year. Obviously he has been dealing with the day-to-day operations in Haiti, and has many insights into the challenges we have faced there and that we will continue to face.

Pam Aung Thin is our national director of public affairs and government relations. Pam has been in the forefront here in Canada, telling the story of the Haiti earthquake to Canadians from the perspective of the Red Cross. She will also be available to answer questions during the discussion period.

The Canadian Red Cross is a name recognized by many Canadians, but the full scope of our services is understood by very few. Our organization touches Canadians at home and the most vulnerable people around the world every day. We respond to emergencies in Port-au-Prince or in Petawawa. We support health work in Mali or in Mississauga. Our reach is determined not by boundaries or borders but simply by where the most vulnerable people may be in need. We are the largest humanitarian organization in Canada and we are part of the largest humanitarian network in the world.

Our strength comes from our vast network of volunteers, who are able to respond to international crises, like the one in Haiti, but also like all the ones that take place in Canada, as was the case last year when Hurricane Igor hit Canada’s east coast. We are the preferred organization of Canadians when they want to make donations during international disasters and crises.

Our core funding does not come from governments, but we work closely with governments on a project-by-project basis. Internationally, we're one of 186 national societies that are members of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. Our preparation, training, investment, and infrastructure allow us to respond rapidly and effectively to crisis situations. Our connections in communities give us unparalleled access to those most in need. At home, Red Cross engagement with diaspora populations provides a unique link to those most affected when a disaster strikes. Abroad, our network allows us to reach individuals and families that others cannot access.

I understand the committee is interested in understanding and improving the Canadian international emergency response with a focus on the Caribbean. This is timely and very appropriate for Canada.

Each year, the Caribbean is hit with natural disasters. Hurricanes batter these islands every year, resulting in the loss of numerous lives, and the costs associated with property losses have a long-term impact on the economy of the islands.

In addition to hurricanes, the region is also frequently hit by volcanic eruptions and earthquakes.

As part of the International Red Cross network, and often with the generous support of Canadians and the Canadian government, the Canadian Red Cross has been responding to disasters in the Caribbean every year. We work side by side with our sister national societies in the region to help them prepare for and respond more effectively to disasters. I will say a few words about this work and what Canada could be doing to improve our assistance, but first I'd like the start with a short look at what we mean by “disaster”.

It's worth recalling that a disaster is an event that overwhelms the capacity, be that of a family, a village, a city, or a community. An event in and of itself is not necessarily a disaster if the community can withstand the impact. For instance, if people are living in hurricane-proof houses and the hurricane blows through, it can have minimal impact on their security and the well-being of the community. But if people are living in weak, improvised structures, it does not take much to create a disaster and for the community to need the assistance of its neighbours. A disaster results from this combination of the event and the capacity of the community to resist the impact of the event.

How do we best respond to disasters? In our experience, we have learned that the most effective way to respond to disasters is first to build the resilience of families, of communities, so that the impact of the event--such as a hurricane--is minimized. Investing in disaster preparedness means being ready to respond when needed, and with the right materials and people.

I cannot stress enough the need to be prepared before a disaster strikes. It is estimated that every dollar invested in disaster preparedness saves seven dollars in disaster response. Disaster preparedness is more than just infrastructure. The need for sturdy housing, maintained retaining walls, and natural hurricane defences--such as mangrove forests--is evident. However, the training and support for disaster volunteers, the proper planning and implementation of disaster plans, and basic health and safety understanding are just as necessary.

The Red Cross, through its network and communities, engages governments at all levels, and we offer our expertise and key services that are needed before, during, and after disasters. In the context of this study the committee is undertaking, we feel that one of the responsibilities of government is to continue and work together to support the needs of governments in affected regions. We must work together to build the knowledge and understanding to be ready when the next emergency strikes.

We can see the impact of these kinds of investments in the international Red Cross engagement in Haiti. In Haiti, in response to the January 2010 earthquake, the International Red Cross has undertaken its largest ever disaster response in a single country. The Canadian Red Cross, in collaboration with the Haitian Red Cross, had been working on the ground in Haiti long before the January earthquake. We've been working there, with the Haitian Red Cross, to help build their capacity to respond to the regular hurricane season. This has included first aid training for volunteers and other community disaster preparedness initiatives.

In the first hour after the earthquake, Haitian Red Cross volunteers--many of whom were themselves victims of the earthquake--were combing through the mountains of debris, searching for signs of life. They were also providing immediate first aid to those most in need.

In the hours after the earthquake, other national societies, including an emergency response contingent of the Canadian Red Cross, began to arrive in Haiti. The regional and international system of the Red Cross was fully mobilized. Relief goods that were in stock in Panama and elsewhere in the region and people from the other islands in the Caribbean, from Central America, South America, Canada, and the U.S. were all called upon to be part of the response. The people and the goods fit into an already tried and true system, which has been built by the International Red Cross over many years. It's a system that we review and improve regularly.

To give you a better picture of Haiti and the work currently under way, I am going to now turn to my colleague, Richard Clair, so that he can share with you some of his experiences and observations from his experience over the last year.

[Richard Clair, Country Director, Haiti, Canadian Red Cross]

Thanks.

Until yesterday I was the country representative of the Canadian Red Cross in Haiti. The year 2010 in Haiti reminds me a bit of the old country and western song that went “If it weren't for bad luck, I wouldn't have luck at all”. Haiti was hit by an earthquake, a cholera outbreak, political instability, and a hurricane as well. The word “resilient” does not even come close to describing the Haitian people.

Haiti was experiencing problems long before the earthquake, and this catastrophe did nothing to help things. In fact, 80% of the population lives on less than $2 a day. It is impossible to travel around the country without being struck by this devastating poverty. The statistics on access to drinking water, education and health care are shocking. But we must not give up and say that there is nothing we can do.

Since January 12, over one million emergency relief items have been delivered by the Red Cross. From January on--and yes, this process is ongoing--2.5 million litres of safe drinking water have been produced daily. To put that into perspective, this is the same as providing 20 litres of water every day to every one of your constituents in your respective ridings here.

Access to medical treatment was an immediate need after the earthquake and continues to be a priority of the Red Cross. To date, more than 216,000 people have received care at a Red Cross facility.

The Red Cross movement responded quickly and effectively in the emergency phase immediately after the earthquake. We have delivered millions of litres of water, tens of thousands of hygiene kits, and hundreds of thousands of units of plastic sheeting and tents. To date, we have built close to 6,000 temporary hurricane and earthquake-resistant shelters.

I would like to clarify something about the distribution of water. After the first few cases of cholera appeared, we were particularly afraid that the displaced persons camp would be the hardest hit, but thanks in particular to a massive distribution of water, which is continuing to this day, and to a considerable awareness and prevention campaign by Red Cross volunteers, the impact of cholera in the displaced persons camps was reduced considerably.

The Canadian Red Cross is putting a lot of its resources into shelters, working primarily in the regions of Jacmel and Leogane. We have committed to building 7,500 shelters and have built over 1,200 so far. That means that more than 6,000 people are no longer living in tents, thanks to Canadian donations. We are picking up steam, and we'll be finished with construction by early fall.

The shelters we are building are sturdy, earthquake resistant, hurricane resistant shelters that can house an average-size family of five people. We are also working with partners to provide water and sanitation access in the communities where we are building shelters. The idea is to provide basic shelter to families who lost their houses in the earthquake but to also help rebuild communities around them.

Shelter is, and will remain, one of the greatest challenges facing the Haitian people. Ensuring that the Haitian people are moved out of temporary shelters and into more permanent homes will continue to usurp large amounts of time and money from international actors. Currently there are approximately 800,000 Haitians living in temporary shelters. It is estimated that a year from now there will still be 400,000.

Shelter difficulties are about more than just walls and cement. Land ownership rights are an impediment to providing the help needed. The Canadian government has an opportunity to advocate strongly for clear and fair land assessments by the Haitian government. This is essential to moving forward with both public and private reconstruction.

Our second-biggest investment is in the health care system. We are working with many partners to move this forward. We've committed to helping rebuild the Saint Michel hospital in Jacmel. We are also rebuilding clinics and are providing community-based health programs, which will be centred in the southeast of the country. We are implementing programs that are sustainable. We expect to work in Haiti for the next five to ten years.

We are also working on small-scale mitigation projects for reducing natural disaster risks in communities. We are also doing gender-based violence prevention.

And lastly, we are working very closely with the Haitian Red Cross to strengthen its abilities so it can become a more solid organization for supporting Haiti’s communities now and in the years to come. The Haitian Red Cross, like the Canadian Red Cross, is an important partner for public authorities, and it is our responsibility to become a stronger organization so it can come to the aid of its fellow citizens in moments of crisis.

I will now pass the remarks over to Susan.

[Susan Johnson]

Thank you, Richard.

I'll just close with a few remarks now on partnership and our partnership with the Canadian government.

On a daily basis, the Red Cross is helping vulnerable communities around the world, thanks in large part to the support we enjoy from the federal government. In response to the earthquake in Haiti, Canadian government action was immediate, and the support has been steadfast. A shining example of this is the new field hospital that was created through a partnership with CIDA and the Canadian Red Cross. This field hospital was deployed for the first time on December 3 to Carrefour in Haiti, where we've been treating the cholera outbreak. More than 1,300 people have now been treated since that hospital was established.

With this mobile hospital, which is a first for the International Red Cross in this hemisphere, we can now be on the ground and working in an emergency situation a day after we've been called in. It ensures a rapid and comprehensive response to even complex medical situations. This would not be possible without government support.

As with any partnership, the Canadian Red Cross is working closely with the government to strengthen our bond. Together we have made some important investments in building real capacity to respond to disasters in this region and around the globe. In addition to the mobile hospital, we have relief supplies ready to ship to respond to urgent needs. We have trained Red Cross staff and volunteers who are well prepared to face the most complex of disaster situations.

This stand-by capacity takes everyday investment, and we would encourage the Government of Canada to continue and to in fact increase efforts in this regard. Our unique capacities and experiences around the globe make us a valuable partner of the Government of Canada in policy development in the areas of international humanitarian assistance, relief, reconstruction, and capacity development.

I would also like to note that the Red Cross is not only a disaster preparedness and response organization. We make big contributions to addressing a range of other humanitarian needs. But with regard to today's subject, I think you will have appreciated from our remarks here today that we have a wide base of knowledge and expertise in the matter.

We now look forward to responding to any questions you may have.

Thank you very much.

[The Chair, Conservative, Dean Allison]

Thank you, Ms. Johnson. I know that, just in context, you are the first witnesses we have on this whole situation of Haiti and disaster response. I just wanted to give some context in terms of your being here today. Thank you very much.

As is normally our custom, we're going to start with the opposition parties, and Mr. Pearson is going to start for seven minutes.

[Glen Pearson, Liberal, London North Centre, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Welcome. I think we all appreciate very much all that you have done. We know it's a real struggle there to try to coordinate it all, and we appreciate very much what the Red Cross has done.

I know that many of the members here are going to drill down to try to get particular information. I wonder if I could start with some broad strokes first.

Regarding the Haiti interim commission, I was there in New York when Bill Clinton was there and talking about how it is to be coordinated. I realize there have been some difficulties internationally around that. Sometimes it was around timing, around reports that were supposed to be coming. I would like to get from you your assessment of how that was handled. I know there have been other relief and emergency situations around the world that have been difficult. Here was one in which we took a former president and made an interim commission, to try to coordinate all of this along with the government report from Haiti itself that was supposed to be coming out. I've heard so many mixed signals on that as to whether that was actually a good idea or not, and I wonder if we could get at least some of the lessons learned from the Red Cross in that process.

[Susan Johnson]

Let me just say a couple of words about that. Certainly we'll be in a better position after today, with our secretary general participating in today's meeting.

Of course we have been following closely the interim commission's work—the creation of the commission and the work of the commission to date. I think it is fair to say that the commission had some start-up difficulties in terms of getting going. I think we can all appreciate why some of that might be the case, given the complexity of moving forward on multiple fronts at the same time.

In these last months of what is supposed to be an 18-month commission, I think it's yet to be seen whether we're going to see real traction and clarity in terms of decision-making and so on going forward. Certainly from a Red Cross point of view, we think that the effort to create that kind of mechanism in which the Haitian government, with the international community, however organized—and the international community has made the choices as to how it wants to be organized in this regard—has the opportunity to see the breadth of what assistance is possible for the country and to have a say in terms of how that assistance is organized.

Some of the mechanical questions, as to how that's been done in terms of projects coming well to the committee and things like that, are details. I think that the actual creation and the intent to set that up and create that unity of leadership has been an important step for Haiti. As I said at the very beginning, we'll have a better sense ourselves of what the day-to-day workings of the committee are, now that we're much more integrated in the workings of it.

Richard, I don't know if you have anything to say from the in-Haiti perspective.

[Richard Clair]

The big question was whether this was going to be a parallel structure to the government in place. That's still not resolved, you see. The political instability in the country has made it even more difficult, because in the last few months very few decisions seem to be coming from the government. You've had the political instability. You've had the commission's role. The actors are the same on both sides, to a certain extent. We're not sure how it's going to work out. They have to wait and see. But there were competing forces in play, and because of the vacuum of political leadership, I don't think things advanced as quickly as they should have.

[Glen Pearson, Liberal, London North Centre, ON]

For you, is it more or less the lead agency moving into that, the organization, as that interim commission kind of stalled for a while and was working its way through that process? How did you find operating within that context, when everybody was asking people to wait, or Mr. Clinton was asking people to wait, where you had these emergency situations you were trying to respond to? Did that make it difficult? Was it disjointed?

[Richard Clair]

Yes. We kept meeting with them. We met with the executive director, Gabriel Verret, through the federation.

We kept them informed of the progress we were making. We're still in the emergency recovery stage, so we're still providing them with the information. Shelter was one of the main ones we were presenting, and shelter was going to be needed one way or another, so we kept moving and kept them in the loop, informing them along the way. That is how we proceeded.

[Susan Johnson]

Perhaps just to clarify, the interim commission is looking at mid- to longer-term investments in terms of infrastructure and so on in the country as part of supporting the Haitian government's long-term development plan. As a humanitarian organization dealing with the more short-term and some of the medium-term needs, we coordinate first and foremost with the humanitarian sector, which is coordinated essentially by the UN system, the cluster system, which I'm sure you've heard a bit about.

In terms of the short-term emergency needs we're dealing with, be it in shelter or health or water and sanitation, there is another mechanism in which that coordination takes place, which has actually been quite effective. I would say shelter is the most effective of all and that we've been able to share information, get a full picture from the other actors, and move forward the work that we want to get done—within what is possible in the context of Haiti.

The commission's effectiveness or ineffectiveness has not been an impediment to our getting on with our emergency humanitarian assistance.

[Glen Pearson, Liberal, London North Centre, ON]

I'm wondering if it's a model that they kind of put out there after Haiti. You get a former president to do it. To me, the jury is still out on that model. Is that the assessment of a lot of the groups still working there, waiting to see if it will actually be effective?

[Susan Johnson]

It may well be, but there will be so many contextual factors. I don't know that it's relevant to say that one model works or doesn't work in all places. After the earthquake in Haiti last year I think people were looking at modelling it on something similar to what existed in Indonesia after the tsunami. But the context politically is so different, and the strength of the national government in the Indonesian case is so different from the strength of the national government in the Haitian case that in the end the comparison doesn't really hold a lot of value.

I certainly believe that the international community will look at this experience over time and try to draw out of it what lessons can be drawn. But I would be cautious to suggest that because it worked or didn't work in one place, it will or won't work somewhere else. It really depends on the relative capacities of the national government, and the interests of international actors partnering with that government.

[Glen Pearson, Liberal, London North Centre, ON]

Fair enough. That's good.

How much time do I have?

[The Chair, Conservative, Dean Allison]

You have time for a quick question.

[Glen Pearson, Liberal, London North Centre, ON]

On the ongoing tension that seems to have resulted, I know there were something like 10,000 NGOs in Haiti not too long after the whole thing happened, and a good many of them were indigenous. Some of them have come to our offices and talked to us. Some of them felt somewhat left out of that coordinated process, and others didn't.

As far as your operation and your work, did you find it was easy enough to coordinate with the local NGOs? Many have been there for a long time, trying to get their voices out there within government and others. Do you have any thoughts on that?

[Richard Clair]

We have our local humanitarian organization, which is the Haitian Red Cross, so we coordinate our work through them for everything. We don't face the same dilemma that way. We work on the higher levels through the federation, and on the local stuff, the Haitian Red Cross already has a network across the country.

It might be more difficult for others to plug themselves in, but we have a system in place. The local branch network of the Haitian Red Cross is connected within the Government of Haiti, at the higher level through the federation to the UN system, and through other interlocutors. That's one of the advantages of working for the Red Cross, I would say.

[Glen Pearson, Liberal, London North Centre, ON]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Dean Allison]

Thank you, Mr. Pearson.

Since Mr. Sauvé is not here today, if there is any important, pertinent information that you could forward, that would be great, given the fact that he's at those meetings.

[Susan Johnson]

We'd be very happy to follow up with the committee with further information on that question. There may well be other questions in the course of the afternoon.

[The Chair, Conservative, Dean Allison]

Thank you very much. That's great.

Mr. Dorion, the floor is yours.

[Jean Dorion, Bloc, Longueuil—Pierre-Boucher, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Ms. Johnson, Mr. Clair, Ms. Aung Thin, thank you for being here.

I have always really admired the Red Cross. I think the creation of the Red Cross was a very important step in the history of humanity. Henri Dunant certainly did something extraordinary because, for the first time, we saw the creation of charitable organizations whose statements moved beyond national and religious borders. I simply wanted to mention that first.

I was in New York when each country came to put forward its contribution for Haiti. Mr. Pearson was there too.

How will the money that was promised get to the areas you are focused on? Does the money promised by the various countries at that time—and we are talking about billions of dollars here—really exist and has it materialized? Have the governments made the contributions they said they would?

[Richard Clair]

An analysis was recently done. Several funds have not yet been paid out. A number of donors seem to be waiting for a new government to be created before advancing these funds.

According to the UN report I recently saw, several billions of dollars have not yet been paid.

[Jean Dorion, Bloc, Longueuil—Pierre-Boucher, QC]

I was in Haiti last April on a departmental mission. We were told that safety was the number one problem. Do you see it that way? We visited a prison built by Canada, we were shown how Canadian police officers—in this case, police officers from Quebec—trained a new Haitian police force, and so on. Does this problem seem critical to you, a fundamental aspect of the dossier? And has there been progress in the area of safety?

[Richard Clair]

I can speak only for the Canadian Red Cross. There really are safety problems in Haiti. I think that, on average, two police officers are killed each week in Port-au-Prince. The political situation also sometimes prevents us from doing our work. So, last year, we stopped our work for almost a week because of rioting.

So the matter of safety is real, even if the MINUSTAH brings some amount of stability. When we are in Haiti, safety is something that we must always consider when we want to do work.