HMCS Athabaskan sailors assisting with Haiti relief.

LETHBRIDGE -

We are only 36-days into a new year and already so much has occurred, both here at home and on the international front – the majority good, another abysmal.

Read the letter from the HMCS Athabaskan (pdf file)

During the first week of January my staff and I wrapped up our “Send your support…In a Cup of Coffee” campaign that sought to send a $5 Tim Hortons gift card to every Canadian soldier in Afghanistan. With the generous support of individuals, organizations, youth and community groups, elementary students, emergency services personnel, businesses and their staff we surpassed our goal.

On December 24, Canada Post – Lethbridge processed two very heavy boxes containing 2,935 Tim’s cards for the initial leg of the journey to Afghanistan, via Department of National Defence Ottawa. A few weeks later a third package of cards – which pushed the total collected to over 3,000 Tim’s cards, made its way to our Canadian men and women serving in Afghanistan.

On the surface this was a simple campaign. Yet, because so many of you came forward  - many with tears  in their eyes – and most with a single card or two, others with handfuls purchased with donations made in the coffee room – southern Albertans took ownership of this crusade to ensure that all of our troops received a welcoming piece of home “In a Cup of Coffee.”

On January 19 the e-mail message below was received in my office. This is for each one of you who thought of a Canadian soldier doing his/her job in a desert far from home.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank you and all the people and organizations that were able to provide a touch of home to our serving members here in Afghanistan. My staff has prepared the cards for distribution and they will be moved forward shortly. I am continually amazed at all the support we receive from home and I know it is an encouragement to each member here. Please pass on our thanks to all the people that have made this possible. Be blessed and be safe!

Jan Kwasniewski
PSP Welfare Manager
Op Athena, Kandahar, Afghanistan

Another great event took place on January 17; when thousands of people witnessed the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Torch make its way through southern Alberta. Torch relay runners carrying the flame of Olympia through the streets of Coaldale and Coalhurst, was a lead up to the cauldron traveling on a unique journey aboard a hand-pumped CP Rail car across the Lethbridge High Level Bridge, continuing on along city streets to a wonderful celebration at Henderson Lake. Our communities excelled at demonstrating Olympic fever and I congratulate event organizers in each community for a job well done. Remember, the best is yet to come, when Canada’s athletes show their stuff to the world February 12-28.

On January 12 disaster struck - the day the earth shook beneath Haiti with a 7.2 magnitude earthquake – and the world’s attention detoured from the crippling economic crisis of the past year to focus on the catastrophic quake fallout.

Canada was in a position to react immediately. Our national leaders took crucial action to mount a rapid and comprehensive humanitarian effort involving departments and agencies from across the federal government. Within hours of the quake, we had deployed civilian and military emergency management experts to Haiti to begin what has become a significant humanitarian response. Their efforts, and that of many more Canadian emergency care experts who followed, continues, as the world comes together to help this tiny nation to first recover and then rebuild itself.

We have all heard the news reports coming out of Haiti, but I would like to share with you excerpts of a letter dated January 26, written by HMCS Athabaskan Commanding Officer Peter Cain, to friends and family of the crew aboard deployed to Haiti 36-hours after the quake. This will provide a small glimspe into the incredible work Canadian sailors are undertaking.

“…We are currently patrolling about 3-5 miles off the coast of a town called Leogane; it is west of the capital city of Port au Prince. …ATHABASKAN has done, and is doing, a fantastic job down here and I am, as you are, very proud of our accomplishments. Although some times it seems so little in an area where the need is so great, I am glad that we are here. …first jobs that we took on was the set-up of the Canadian Medical Assistance Team camp. …this team of doctors from Canada has treated well over a thousand Haitians since we arrived. CMAT estimates that with our help they are able to treat twice the number of patients that would normally be possible.

We have also been providing security to the CMAT camp during the day. Let me assure you that the Haitian people have been very orderly and calm throughout this tragedy…. working with two orphanages to help them get back on their feet…we have fixed solar panels, got generators running and restored water purification systems. Sailors have great skills …all are in demand and being put to good use.

… biggest asset that we have is the helicopter. It has flown everyday, landing in airports, clearings and farmers fields to move people and materials where they are most needed. We moved most of the DART medical equipment from the capital to a neighboring city, and loads of supplies all over the region. …The aircrew is flying 8 -10 hours a day and the aircraft never goes anywhere empty.”