Transporting Canadians out of Hurricane Zone

[jimmy4321]

It's ALWAYS been like this regardless of the gov in power.
I say if you leave this great country to blow your savings in another, your ON YOUR OWN.

[Omnitheo]

This is an excerpt from an article following the Japan tsunami

https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2011/0 ... broad.html

Officially, the government has no clear policy for when it will or will not extract Canadians trapped in international disaster zones.

“Situations vary from country to country,” said Claude Rochon, spokeswoman for the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade.

“In the event of a crisis that requires evacuation . . . policy is to provide transportation to Canadian travellers to the nearest safe haven.”

In Japan, that means a bus ride from Sendai to Tokyo Friday morning and nothing more.

“Canadians wishing to leave Japan can do so by commercial means,” said Rochon.

Meanwhile, France, the United States and other countries have chartered planes to evacuate their nationals from Tokyo.

“The government of Canada may assist Canadians in leaving a country as a last resort,” Rochon said. “However, doing so may not always be possible.”

In 2005, when the levies burst in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, a number of Canadians were stranded in the city. Calls for help poured into Foreign Affairs, many requesting that the military extract the Canadians. Such an evacuation never occurred.

But during the Lebanon war in 2006, Ottawa spent nearly $100 million pulling Canadian passport holders out of the war zone only to be slammed by critics when many of those passport holders returned to their homes in Lebanon once the violence subsided.

The current evacuation effort in Japan comes just two days after Stephen Harper advised that taxpayers would not be footing the bill to evacuate Canadians out of Japan.

But fears of a nuclear meltdown at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant have worsened since Harper’s statements.

Sixteen Canadians were bused out of the Fukushima region on Thursday travelling on buses supplied by South Africa, Australia, New Zealand and Britain.

“Most Canadians would be shocked to learn that the government has no legislative responsibility to protect Canadians abroad,” says MP Paul Dewar, the NDP’s foreign affairs critic.

“It’s a glaring hole in our law . . . . Our staff in the missions abroad do their best to serve Canadians. But they are always understaffed and under-resourced.”

Whether the government should be obliged to protect Canadians in foreign lands during times of peril is a question that strikes at the rights of citizenship.

“This is the duty to protect, and it is a fundamental attribute of government,” says Bob Bothwell of the University of Toronto’s International Relations program. “A government that does not protect its citizens loses its legitimacy.”

But what about those “citizens of convenience?”

“Last time I checked, a Canadian is a Canadian,” says Liberal MP Dan McTeague, former parliamentary secretary to the minister of foreign affairs, with special emphasis on Canadians Abroad.

“We tend to discredit the good number of Canadians abroad. I’m not sure what’s to gain from this. Is there going to be an expense (in rescuing them)? Sure there is. But that’s part of the expense of citizenship.”

Seems it's often been a discretionary judgement. It's unfair though to suggest that once a Canadian leaves the country, they leave their rights or citizenship behind.

[Catsumi]

The BIG difference between a tsunami and a hurricane is that the latter gives plenty of warning (days ahead, we all know what's in the wind! The former is a sudden, unforseen event.

Those who choose to ignore and forestall their chance to escape have elected to be ON THEIR OWN.

[Dizzy1]

This is an excerpt from an article following the Japan tsunami

https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2011/0 ... broad.html

Officially, the government has no clear policy for when it will or will not extract Canadians trapped in international disaster zones.

“Situations vary from country to country,” said Claude Rochon, spokeswoman for the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade.

“In the event of a crisis that requires evacuation . . . policy is to provide transportation to Canadian travellers to the nearest safe haven.”

In Japan, that means a bus ride from Sendai to Tokyo Friday morning and nothing more.

“Canadians wishing to leave Japan can do so by commercial means,” said Rochon.

Meanwhile, France, the United States and other countries have chartered planes to evacuate their nationals from Tokyo.

“The government of Canada may assist Canadians in leaving a country as a last resort,” Rochon said. “However, doing so may not always be possible.”

In 2005, when the levies burst in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, a number of Canadians were stranded in the city. Calls for help poured into Foreign Affairs, many requesting that the military extract the Canadians. Such an evacuation never occurred.

But during the Lebanon war in 2006, Ottawa spent nearly $100 million pulling Canadian passport holders out of the war zone only to be slammed by critics when many of those passport holders returned to their homes in Lebanon once the violence subsided.

The current evacuation effort in Japan comes just two days after Stephen Harper advised that taxpayers would not be footing the bill to evacuate Canadians out of Japan.

But fears of a nuclear meltdown at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant have worsened since Harper’s statements.

Sixteen Canadians were bused out of the Fukushima region on Thursday travelling on buses supplied by South Africa, Australia, New Zealand and Britain.

“Most Canadians would be shocked to learn that the government has no legislative responsibility to protect Canadians abroad,” says MP Paul Dewar, the NDP’s foreign affairs critic.

“It’s a glaring hole in our law . . . . Our staff in the missions abroad do their best to serve Canadians. But they are always understaffed and under-resourced.”

Whether the government should be obliged to protect Canadians in foreign lands during times of peril is a question that strikes at the rights of citizenship.

“This is the duty to protect, and it is a fundamental attribute of government,” says Bob Bothwell of the University of Toronto’s International Relations program. “A government that does not protect its citizens loses its legitimacy.”

But what about those “citizens of convenience?”

“Last time I checked, a Canadian is a Canadian,” says Liberal MP Dan McTeague, former parliamentary secretary to the minister of foreign affairs, with special emphasis on Canadians Abroad.

“We tend to discredit the good number of Canadians abroad. I’m not sure what’s to gain from this. Is there going to be an expense (in rescuing them)? Sure there is. But that’s part of the expense of citizenship.”

Seems it's often been a discretionary judgement. It's unfair though to suggest that once a Canadian leaves the country, they leave their rights or citizenship behind.

Rights of being a citizen doesn't include bailing your *bleep* out after you've been warned. There has to be some level of personal responsibility.

[Omnitheo]

True, I would argue that hurricanes are different than sudden things like earthquakes, or tsunamis. That said for people on an island it may be another case. Depending on the length of the warning, people might not always be able to obtain flights off the island in time.

[fvkasm2x]

People are selfish and stupid. Nuff' said