We covered some of this ground in response to Mr. Coderre, but I can certainly say that our department did remarkable work in accelerating the applications for adoption by Canadian parents. When the earthquake happened, we were contacted by a number of MPs from all parties expressing concern about kids who were abandoned in orphanages and were waiting for a finalization for approval to come to Canada.
In terms of prioritizing or triaging our immigration response to Haiti, we felt it was appropriate to focus on children, who were probably most susceptible to disorder, to a lack of clean water and shelter, to the crisis in general. This is why we proactively contacted parents who had made applications for adoption of Haitian children. We worked with the provincial child welfare agencies responsible for overseeing adoption sponsorships and we worked directly with the orphanages in Haiti and our missions in Port-au-Prince.
I can tell you that as a result of all that, within the first two weeks we succeeded in bringing to Canada about 150 Haitian children to be united with their Canadian families. I want to point out that many of these families were Canadian families of Haitian origin who were helping young Haitians to have a new beginning here. Since then, I think we brought roughly an additional 50 children. There are 203 Haitian children whose adoptions we have accelerated.
In terms of the other cases, we have added, as Madame Deschênes mentioned, resources in Santo Domingo. In Port-au-Prince, notwithstanding the damage caused to our mission there, we've reallocated, and redirected individuals in our Montreal office to be specifically focused on handling inquiries. We opened a designated 1-800 call service for people with inquiries about relatives in Haiti. We triggered extraordinary measures, including accelerated treatment for qualified individuals in Haiti who can be sponsored here as family class.
We have also in a number of cases demonstrated extraordinary flexibility in granting TRVs in extraordinary humanitarian cases.
On the whole, I think our response has been quite remarkable. I would like to commend our officials, particularly those working on the ground in Port-au-Prince and Santo Domingo. As Mr. Coderre points out, once we begin to receive cases that are referred to us by Quebec, we will have several thousand cases: those that were in the queue before the earthquake, the 2,000 or so that have come to our attention since the earthquake, plus some additional ones from Quebec. It will be a challenge.
Because of the limited capacity for medical verification—although that's coming back on stream—we now have a new arrangement. We're back on stream with medical doctors in Haiti who are designated to provide certified medical checks. Of course, we have some logistical challenges regarding security checks because of the destruction of the records in Haiti and the virtual non-existence of the police and the judicial system. But our agents will be using their good sense and due diligence in applying IRPA for applicants to come to Canada, to ensure that they actually are legitimately related to Canadians, that they're qualified to come, and that they meet the medical and security requirements of IRPA.
It's my hope that.... As you see, we've already processed some of these applications, and every week we will be processing more and more. I think the special program will pick up momentum. We have learned lessons from special measures implemented for the Sichuan earthquake, the south Asian tsunami, and so forth.