Canada acted swiftly, boldly and in the most efficient way to come to the aid of Haiti, which was rocked by a devastating earthquake.

Haiti’s earthquake was the worst natural disaster ever to hit the poorest nation in the western hemisphere. It not only decapitated the capital, Port-au-Prince, but also left thousands of people dead, injured and homeless.

We will never know how many people were actually killed by the earthquake.

Early indications are more than 200,000 people may have perished in this natural disaster. And more than 1.5 million people have been left homeless.

There have been many disasters around the world in recent years including the 2004 tsunami which killed more than 200,000 people. The 7.0-magnitude earthquake struck hard at the heart of the impoverished island nation. It was the worst earthquake to hit the poverty-stricken nation in two centuries. I don’t ever recall Canada coming to the aid of a nation in such a forceful manner and so swiftly. The action was swift because Canada has special links with Haiti.

More than 110,000 Haitians live in Montreal alone. Thousands of other Haitian Canadians live in other areas.

Canada’s current Governor-General Michaelle Jean is originally from Haiti.

Also thousands of Canadians live in Haiti. Canadians have, in the past and even now, been involved in helping Haiti help itself for many years. Close ties between Canada and Haiti go back decades. Haiti is the second largest recipient of Canadian development funding after Afghanistan.

In recent years, more than $600 million have been pledged to Haiti. Haiti deserves all the help it can get from around the world. International aid will have to be massive and ongoing for many, many years.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s government has already announced $5 million in immediate aid and emergency assistance to Haiti. This disaster in Haiti has opened the heart of the world.

Even a tiny country like Senegal in Africa has come to the country’s aid. Senegal’s President Abdoulaye Wade has called on Africa to make room for victims of Haiti’s earthquake to restart their lives on the continent from where their ancestors were snatched as slaves. Senegal says if only a few people come they will be given a roof and a patch of land.

However, if they come in large numbers, Senegal will give them a whole region. Canada’s Minister of International Co-operation Bev Oda has announced individual donations to registered Canadian charities until Feb. 12 will now be matched, on top of the $5-million already promised for emergency relief. The Canadian Development International Agency (CIDA) will then allocate the $50-million to Canadian and international humanitarian and development organizations.

Since then the federal government has announced an additional $80 million for international emergency relief efforts in Haiti. This brings the total to $135 million. The additional funding will be used for food, water, sanitation, medical treatment, shelter and protection of vulnerable people.

The progress from international efforts to help Haiti in recent years has been virtually wiped out by this earthquake.

In addition to this, millions of dollars have been donated by Canadians. Last year, a series of four hurricanes hammered the country’s already fragile infrastructure, killing an estimated 1,000 people and causing $1-billion in physical damage. On top of this natural disaster, Haiti has been devastated by endemic political instability, corruption, violence and poverty.

“We have to start from scratch with a long-term commitment when the current emergency is over,” Harper said. Harper is absolutely right.

What Haiti needs is rebuilding from the ground up. What we don’t need is for international agencies from around the world to come in and patch things up and retreat. Haiti is in the worst shape today than it has been for years.

The recent earthquake has destroyed schools, clinics, hospitals, offices, government buildings, houses, shops, roads and many other infrastructures. The world must come to the aid of Haiti for a long haul. Haiti has experienced political instability for many years. Haiti has more than 9,000,000 people. Seventy per cent live on less than two dollars a day.