It is heart-wrenching to listen to the stories of survivors of Supertyphoon Haiyan (or Yolanda as it is known locally in the Philippines), and to the stories of Montrealers who haven't yet been able to get in touch with their loved ones in the affected parts of the Central Visayas. At this point, I feel like the only things I can do are to continue trying to get in touch with my friends and acquaintances in Tacloban, Cebu and St Bernard, to donate to disaster relief efforts, and to urge the Canadian government to strongly support relief and recovery efforts. So, I wrote to my Member of Parliament, Mr. Marc Garneau, this morning. Here is that letter.
Dear Mr. Garneau,
As one of your constituents in the riding of Westmount - Ville-Marie,
I strongly urge you to take an active stand in Ottawa in pledging more and
immediate support for the communities affected by Supertyphoon Haiyan in the
Philippines. The disaster affects me personally and professionally, and I am
extremely disappointed by the paltry response of the Government of Canada thus
far.
My doctoral research explores how Filipinos rebuild their lives and livelihoods
after a disaster. Since 2010, I have spent nearly a year in the Philippines
visiting communities affected by disasters, interviewing survivors, and
learning about critical issues and challenges. Everywhere I went, I was
received with warmth, kindness and generosity. Everywhere I went, the
resilience and ingenuity of Filipinos emerged as common strategies for living
with uncertainty. I expect that the survivors of Haiyan will exhibit these same
traits, but the effectiveness of these traits in rebuilding lives
and livelihoods will be limited without significant and thoughtful financial
assistance in both the short and long terms.
As of Monday November 11, the Government of Canada has announced support for
two funds to help relief efforts in the Philippines: one fund of up to $5
million for humanitarian relief (14 cents per Canadian), and another fund that
matches the donations of Canadians to registered Canadian charities between
November 8 to December 8. Yesterday,
it committed to deploy Canada's Disaster Assistance Response Team
(DART). I think Canada's promise to help is grossly inadequate and ignores the
importance of the Philippines to Canada. Please permit me to explain.
The Philippines provides a lot of human capital to Canada. It is now the number
one source country for immigrants to Canada. Manitoba, Saskatchewan,
Alberta and British Columbia all have formal labour agreements with the
Philippines. A similar agreement for the Atlantic provinces is underway. Many
of the caregivers who care for Canadian children and elderly are Filipinos,
providing a vital service that Canadians are unwilling or unable to do. Many
more Filipinos or Canadians of Filipino descent work in engineering, health
care and other sectors of the Canadian economy.
The strong interests of the Canadian mining sector in the
Philippines vastly outweigh the pledged humanitarian response. The
latest (2008) published statistics from the Mines and Geosciences Bureau of the
Philippines indicate Canadian mining companies invested more than 1.2 billion
dollars in Philippine mining projects (table 1). Although these mining sites do
not lie within the path of the supertyphoon, maintaining goodwill between
Canada and the Philippines is important to the social license Canadian mining
companies require to operate overseas. Moreover, the revenues and repatriation
of copper, gold, silver, nickel profits to Canada are surely worth hundreds of
millions, if not billions of dollars to Canadian companies. A donation of up to five million dollars and
an undetermined amount of matching dollars is minute in comparison to the
mineral wealth mined and repatriated to Canada. A significant response to
the current disaster would indicate Canada cares about the people and not just
the mineral wealth of the Philippines.
Table 1: Canadian Mining
Companies Operating in the Philippines
Source: Mines and Geosciences Bureau of the Philippines
LOCATION
|
TENEMENT HOLDER/
PERMITTEE/ OPERATOR
|
TOTAL DISCLOSED
PROJECT COST
(million $)
|
Sitio Canatuan, Bgy.
Tabayo, Siocon, Zamboanga del Norte
|
TVI Resources
Development Philippines Inc.
|
57.57
|
Maco, Compostela
Valley
|
Apex Mining Corp.
Inc (Crew Gold)
|
36.58
|
Victoria, Mindoro
Oriental
|
Crew Minerals
|
1,100.09
|
Jabonga, Santiago,
Tublay, Agusan del Norte*
|
MRL Gold Phils.,
Inc.
|
3.15
|
Balabag, Bayog,
Zamboanga Sibugay
|
TVI Resources
Development Philippines Inc.
|
2
|
Bgy. Camanlangan, New Bataan, Compostela Valley
|
Philco Mining
Corporation (Sur American)
|
5
|
Sitio Capcapo,
Licuaan-Baay, Abra
|
Jabel Corporation
(Kadabra Mining Corp., Olympus Pacific Minerals, Inc.)
|
48
|
Bgy. Balibago, Lobo,
Batangas
|
MRL Gold Phils.,
Inc.
|
4.45
|
Bgy. Balibago, Lobo,
Batangas
|
MRL Gold Phils.,
Inc.
|
2.02
|
Camanlangan, Panay
and Fatima New Bataan, Compostela Valley
|
Philco Mining
Corporation (Sur American)
|
0.1
|
Bgy. Camanlangan, New Bataan, Compostela Valley
|
Philco Mining
Corporation (Sur American)
|
0.1
|
Malimono and Mainit,
Surigao del Norte
|
MRL Gold Phils.,
Inc.
|
0.1
|
TOTAL
|
1,259.16
|
While I laud the
government's pledge to match the generosity of Canadians supporting disaster
relief efforts, I expect that the amount the government pays out will be
drastically lower than what Canadians actually contribute. This is because the
majority of money sent by people with a direct Philippines connection will not
go through a registered Canadian charity. Instead, the money will be channeled
as remittances sent directly to family, friends and Filipino organisations
working at the grassroots level. Thus the GOC will pay comparatively little to
the money wired through global payment service companies like Western Union,
MoneyGram, WorldRemit and others.
Finally, why did the
government wait until 11 November, three days after Haiyan made landfall in Eastern Samar on 8 November,
before deploying the DART? The Tropical Storm Risk website began issuing alerts
about Haiyan on 4 November. The DART should have been deployed last week to
Japan, to be ready and in the Philippines on Saturday, right after the storm
passed. It would not have cost Canadian taxpayers any more money, and most
importantly, it could have helped to mitigate the emerging crisis due to clean
water and food shortages, and severely damaged communication and infrastructure
systems. With storms becoming more and more destructive, I expect my government
to adjust its response to effectively deal with disasters, which requires a
proactive stance. Stephen Harper claims his Conservative government is the best
option for managing money; delivering food and water after the people have died
is not effective. As such, the current government is living in the past; I want
a government that is prepared for the present and the future.
Given the strong existing
ties between Canada and the Philippines and what I understand as the moral
obligation of Canada, I strongly urge you to speak up on behalf of Canadians
who want their federal government to take more and immediate action to support
short-term disaster relief and long-term recovery in the Central Visayas.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Christine
CC: Justin Trudeau (Liberal Party Leader), Thomas Mulcair
(NDP Party Leader), Stephen Harper (PM), Elizabeth May (Green Party Leader), Daniel
Paillé (Bloc Québecois Party Leader), Christian Paradis (Minister of
International Development and Minister for La Francophonie), John Baird
(Minister of Foreign Affairs) , Tobias C. Enverga Jr. (Conservative Senator), Jean
François Bouthillette (Radio Canada reporter), Leslie Gatan (Philippine
ambassador to Canada), Robert Desjardins (Canadian ambassador to the
Philippines)
The letter below is a call for support from Kalikasan- People's network for the Environment, one of the Philippine NGOs that I have worked with since 2010. Kalikasan and their partner organisations do excellent work. Their extensive network and presence "on-the-ground" means they already understand the local context, customs and needs, and can reach some of the most vulnerable people quickly. When they did a similar outreach with the Typhoon Sendong survivors I worked with in CDO, the support extended beyond the short relief period into longer term advocacy, livelihoods and sustainability initiatives.
