US embassy cable - 04OTTAWA3483

UNCLAS OTTAWA 003483 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
STATE FOR TSUNAMI TASKFORCE 1, EAP AND WHA/CAN 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/30/2005 
TAGS: EAID, AEMR, CASC, CA, Tsunami 
SUBJECT: TFXO01: DECEMBER 30 UPDATE FROM OTTAWA 
 
REF: OTTAWA 03474 
 
Death toll likely to rise steeply 
-------------------------------- 
1.  (SBU)  The FAC emergency task force manager confirms that 
the number of Canadian deaths has risen to four.  The task 
force has opened welfare and whereabouts files on 2,500-3000 
cases, half of which remain unresolved.  They are beginning 
the process of calling back to see if some of the missing 
people have since been in touch.  Although they could not 
provide a range of likely total missing, noting that many of 
the W&W cases involve more than one person and that the 
volume of calls remains high, hundreds of Canadians who were 
known to be in the affected region are still unaccounted for 
and FAC expects many if not most of the missing to become 
deaths. 
 
Facilitated immigration 
----------------------- 
 
2.  (U)  Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) has 
announced that after assisting FAC in providing emergency 
assistance, visa offices in Colombo, Bangkok, New Delhi and 
Jakarta will give priority consideration to immigration 
applications from those directly and significantly affected 
by the disaster and who have immediate family members in 
Canada.  For immigrant applications, applicants must contact 
CIC in writing and explain their circumstances.  Case-by-case 
consideration will be given to visitors, students and workers 
seeking to extend status in Canada if they are from the 
disaster area. 
 
And more money 
-------------- 
 
3.  (SBU)  As has been conveyed by the Canadian Embassy to 
WHA/CAN, on December 30, GOC increased its pledged support 
for humanitarian aid after the earthquake and tsunamis to 
C$40 million (approximately US$32 million) and plans to send 
another planeload of emergency supplies to Indonesia, similar 
to the plane that left yesterday for Sri Lanka (reftel), and 
is expressing strong interest in being part of the Core 
Group. 
 
 
 
Visit Canada's Classified Web Site at 
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/wha/ottawa 
 
POWELL