TFUS01 - CANADA: STATUS OF ASSISTANCE REPORT 2,

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 OTTAWA 002669

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE

FOR R, WHA/CAN; WHA/EPSC

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL ECON AEMR ASEC CASC MARR AMGT US CA
SUBJECT: TFUS01 - CANADA: STATUS OF ASSISTANCE REPORT 2,
SEPTEMBER 6, 2005

REF: A. STATE 163366

B. OTTAWA 2638

C. STATE 162270


1. (SBU) After the long weekend and initial confused flurry,
things seem to be running smoothly. We will direct most
future offers of Canadian assistance to the GOC for
coordination. Deputy Prime Minister Anne McClellan told the
Ambassador this afternoon that the USG should let her know of
anything else we need. She is pleased the ships have left
(para 6) and is trying to reach Secretary Chertoff to
reiterate Canada's desire to help.

Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Canada (PSEPC)
-------------- --------------


2. (U) PSEPC, the newly-created DHS equivalent, is charged
primarily with coordinating the Canadian federal government
response and is also the clearing house for offers of
assistance from the sub-federal level. Note: Some
organizations and border states and cities with existing MOUs
with US counterparts have been operating directly. End Note.


3. (SBU) As of 4:00 pm on September 6, the Senior Watch
Officer at the PSEPC operations center reports that things
are working quite well. The Director ofthe operations center
confirmed that PSEPC is distributing the USG request list
nationwide and will coordinate response. He said they have
already requested greater detail about the objects requested
ref A. (For example, what type of veterinary supplies? Would
that include pharmaceutical items?) but communication with
Washington is working smoothly. The Ops Center is operating
at "level 3" due to the hurricane, meaning they are dealing
with only emergency requests. The Ops center phone number is
613-991-7000.

Foreign Affairs Canada (FAC)
--------------


4. (SBU) The operations center at Foreign Affairs Canada
(613-996-8885) also plays a role in disseminating requests to
other federal agencies. From a consular perspective, FAC has
resolved 178 welfare and whereabouts cases, with only about
10 Canadians still unaccounted for as of September 6. In
most of those cases, consular officers have been able to
confirm that the individuals left the hurricane area, but
have not been able to locate them. There are no reports of
Canadian deaths and there are very few new calls coming in.
The Director General of the North America Bureau told DCM
that "State has been earning high marks for its
professionalism and competence" in facilitating foreign
government assistance to their nationals.

Department of Defence
--------------


5. (U) The Canadian Forces support to the U.S. has been named
UNISON. Canadian Chief of Defence Staff Hillier is in
contact with Chief of the USJCS General Richard Myers and
with Admiral Tim Keating of NORAD and US Northcom.


6. (U) As of September 6, post is aware of the following
contributions (in reverse chronological order):

-- Ambassador Wilkins, at the Prime Minister's invitation
(septel),participated in the launch of three ships that
departed Halifax the afternoon of September 6 and are
expected to reach the affected area in four days. The ships,
whose deployment was announced September 2, are:

--HMCS Athabaskan (Iroquois class destroyer)
--HMCS Ville de Quebec (Halifax class frigate)
--HMCS Toronto (Halifax class frigate)

The three ships will be accompanied by the Coast Guard ship
Sir William Alexander and three embarked sea king helicopter
detachments.

-- Team of navy divers from Esquimalt, B.C. and Halifax,
N.S., plus army Combat Engineer divers from 4 Engineer
Support regiment in Gagetown, N.B. The first divers left
Esquimalt for Pensacola, Florida the morning of September 4.
The group from Halifax left that evening, with the remaining
members of the team departing September 5. The divers are
headed for NAS Pascagoula, MS and will work with the 2nd
Amphibious Group of the Second Fleet. A total of over 35
divers, liaison and administrative staff were deployed.

-- Two officers from the Canadian Forces Joint Operations
Group in Kingston, ON to support Brigadier-General Mark
McQuillan, CF liaison Officer to Norcomm in Colorado Springs
and to assist in planning future Katrina-related deployments.
They departed on September 4.

-- 27 Canadian Red Cross and five Foreign Affairs Canada
officials were transported to Houston September 3 by the
Canadian Air Force.

-- Separate from UNISON, Canada's air force sent two CH-146
Griffon helicopters to assist the USCG in covering the Boston
search and rescue area over the Labor Day weekend.


Province of Manitoba
--------------


7. (SBU) On September 2, the Manitoba Urban Search and Rescue
(USAR) team tried to contact state governments in the
affected area to send 61 individuals over the weekend for a
total of 14 days including travel. As of September 6,
Manitoba officials had heard from the GOC and Louisiana State
officials that the team's skills would not be needed.

Private Sector
--------------


8. (U) Despite minimal excess capacity, Canada is working
to comply with the IEA's directive to make more petroleum
available. Although the GOC is counting on high gas prices
to lead to lower consumption, the province of Alberta's
Energy and Utilities Board has also "opened the taps" on the
province's oil wells, lifting monthly production limits,
which could provide an extra 30,000 barrels a day in
production.


9. (U) Frank Stronach of Magna International has opened a
dormitory facility in Palm Meadows, Florida (Palm Meadows
Training Center, 8898 Lyons Road, Boynton Beach, FL 33437).
Working with the Red Cross and FEMA, the facility is
currently housing 300 people, with the capacity of up to 400.
The project received press coverage in Canada.


10. (SBU) The task force received an offer September 6 from
Joe Patel of Spot Vision offered its giant screen TV/displays
for "free advertising or announcements. Its system will be
in place for the Florida Gators game October 26-30. The
company is also willing to make a private contribution.
Contacts are Patel (514-398-9111, ext. 235) or Senior VP John
Anderson (ext. 233).


11. (SBU) B'nai Brith Canada is planning on September 25 to
collect 250,000 pounds of clothing that will be directed to
B'nai Brith personnel in the affected areas to distribute to
the most vulnerable of the victims. They extended
condolences and offered to be of any assistance possible.


12. (SBU) A private individual sent the embassy a money
order for $100 for the US Red Cross. Post will forward it to
the Red Cross.



Visit Canada's Classified Web Site at
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/wha/ottawa

WILKINS