Montreal couple among dead in Haiti earthquake

A Montreal couple visiting friends in Port-au-Prince are among the four Canadians confirmed dead following Tuesday’s devastating earthquake in Haiti.

Georges Anglade, who taught at the University of Quebec at Montreal, and his wife, Mireille, as well as Yvonne Martin, a nurse from Elmira, Ont., and Sgt. Mark Gallagher, an RCMP officer from the Maritimes are the only known Canadian victims of the earthquake.

Georges Anglade was born in Haiti, but moved to Quebec in 1969.

The couple's daughter, Pascale Anglade, a doctor in Charlotte, N.C., said her parents were killed when the house they were in collapsed.

"My dad worked for years for the UN. They lived in Haiti for many years, that's where they raised me and my sister," she said.

Anglade, who was in Haiti 10 days ago visiting her parents, said she lost other relatives in the earthquake, including a cousin and an uncle. She said she expects to hear about more deaths of friends and family in the coming days.

"My parents had such high hopes for this country, for Haiti, and worked so hard to make something out of that place. To have it all end like that just seems incredibly unfair."

Several Quebecers are still missing as search-and-rescue crews sift through the rubble for survivors.

Premier Jean Charest said attempts to find two civil servants working for the provincial government who were in Haiti at the time of the quake have been unsuccessful.

There is confusion around the fate of Serge Marcil, the former Liberal MP believed to have been located after being reported missing in Haiti. 

There were reports Marcil had been rescued and flown to Miami for medical treatment. It now appears those reports were premature — perhaps even inaccurate.

Now, it's not clear Marcil has been rescued. Marcil, who is now an employee of engineering firm SM International, was in Haiti on business.

His son, Olivier, works in Charest's office. His wife, Christianne Pelchat, is president of Quebec's Council on for the Status of Women.

Charest expressed his sympathy for those still waiting on information about their loved ones.

"The frustration of families must be very cruel at this point — because it is difficult, impossible in some circumstances to talk to people," Charest said.

About 6,000 Canadian citizens live in Haiti, but only 700 are registered with the Canadian Embassy in Port-au-Prince, Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon said.

The federal government is assisting Canadians who are trying to leave Haiti. A plane carrying a group of Canadians out of from Haiti is expected to arrive in Montreal on Thursday night.

Quebec organizing aid

Quebec is home to the vast majority of the roughly 100,000 Haitians living in Canada, and the provincial government has promised to send human and material resources to help the Caribbean nation.

Premier Jean Charest said the province is preparing to send firefighters, French-speaking medical professionals and trained search-and-rescue teams as quickly as possible.

He said the first deployments will happen as soon as the federal government arranges transportation to Haiti.

In Montreal, a council of Haitian community leaders is organizing an aid effort and preparing to send resources to those in need.

Pastor Garnel Augustin said money raised through a network of Montreal churches will go directly to the Haitian people and a delegation plans to fly there with money raised as soon as the airport in Port-au-Prince reopens.

Canada has promised humanitarian aid and has deployed its Disaster Assistance Response Team to Haiti to help the devastated Caribbean country.

The International Red Cross has estimated three million people — a third of the population — may need emergency relief.