Nearly 100 volunteers from Montreal, many of them from the city's Haitian community, left on a flight early Wednesday morning to join the massive relief effort in the earthquake-ravaged country.

Doctors, nurses and police officers were among those who left Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport on a flight donated by Air Transat. The plane was packed with 35 tons of food, water, tents, generators and medical equipment, even using empty seats for storage.

The 18 police officers are not in uniform, nor will they carry their sidearms, because the United Nations, which oversees a stabilization mission in Haiti, has not formally requested their presence. About 82 Canadian police officers were in Haiti as part of that mission when the quake struck.

Jean-Ernest Celestin, Montreal's first Haitian-born officer to rise to the rank of district commander, said members of the force wanted to join their colleagues who have spent weeks in the country aiding the UN.

"We have our colleagues over there who have survived the earthquake and they need this support, they need to see a familiar face," Celestin said before boarding the plane.

"We're also thinking of the Haitian population in Montreal who don't have the ability to go to Haiti, but we have this opportunity to help," he added.

Montreal Police Chief Yvan Delorme is leading the volunteer mission, which is code-named Koudmen, or "helping hand" in Creole.

Montreal Mayor Gerald Tremblay said the mayor of Port-au-Prince, the national police force, and a UN housing agency have asked for help.

"We want to definitely show the whole world that regardless of procedures that are in place, what's important for us is to be on the ground and to help people who need it," Tremblay told reporters at the airport.

Nancia Marthe Prochette, whose parents are both health-care workers who have joined the mission, said she is both proud of them and concerned for their safety given Haiti's deteriorating security situation.

"I'm happy because they're going to give a hand and they're going to be able to do something for their country," Prochette told CTV Montreal. "But at the same time I'm nervous because of the security and what they're going to see."

Also aboard the Airbus 330 were cooks from the organization Chefs Without Borders, who will prepare meals at the field hospitals around the capital, Port-au-Prince.

"We know how to organize a kitchen," founder Jean-Louis Themis told The Canadian Press.

Canadian troops hard at work

Canada's troops, sailors, medical staff and civilians were assisting in the recovery effort in Haiti on Wednesday, as the hard-hit capital city felt a powerful aftershock.

On Wednesday morning a 5.9 magnitude quake hit the area, sending people into the streets in fear of another temblor like the one on Jan. 12 that left tens of thousands dead or homeless.

The latest quake damaged the roof and second floor of the Canadian embassy in Port-au-Prince but none of the staff or Canadians taking shelter at the compound were injured.

Recent developments:

  • Canada's Emergency Operations Centre has received 28,600 calls
  • 1,681 Canadians have been located
  • 543 Canadians are unaccounted for
  • 1,441 people have been evacuated on 16 flights
  • 13 confirmed Canadian deaths

Gen. Guy Laroche, commander of the Canadian Forces in Haiti, said part of Wednesday's efforts will be assessment, in order to determine how much damage was done by the second quake.

"People were surprised this morning but so far so good on our side. We're going to do an assessment today in Port-au-Prince and other areas to see if more damage was caused by the aftershock this morning," Laroche told CTV's Canada AM.

Laroche spoke from the airport at the capital city, as planes landed and took off behind him, many of them delivering much-needed aid to the country. A major component of Canada's work is helping to ensure those supplies reach the people who need them.

Canada has two navy ships in Haiti. The destroyer HMCS Athabaskan is anchored off Leogane, while the frigate HMCS Halifax is positioned near Jacmel.

Both will continue to carry out light engineering work to support aid agencies, as well as deliver food, water and medical aid, Laroche said.

In addition, Canada's Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) has set up in Jacmel, the childhood home of Gov. Gen. Michaelle Jean.

During a media briefing in Ottawa Wednesday, Defence Minister Peter Mackay said an "airfield activation team" had been working to repair Jacmel's airstrip and get it back in working order. Two C-130 Hercules aircraft carrying relief supplies were able to land early Wednesday, according to MacKay.

The larger C-17 Globemaster aircraft have secured landing rights at Kingston, Jamaica's Norman Manley Airport, where they will offload cargo. The Hercules will pick up that cargo for short-haul flights into Jacmel and Port-au-Prince, MacKay said.

Canadian Forces SAR Techs are working in Port-au-Prince, helping search for survivors, Laroche said.

"SAR Techs has been working in the area of Port-au-Prince yesterday, trying to find if there are still people under the rubble in Port-au-Prince and also they have been doing different missions throughout the island and they're going to keep on doing that," Laroche said.

A total of 2,000 Canadian troops are already in Haiti, or preparing to be deployed, to help keep the peace and deliver aid.

Canada's efforts will focus largely on an isolated area south and west of Port-au-Prince. The area is largely cut off due to blocked roads and crumbled infrastructure.

The Canadian area stretches from the outskirts of the capital to Jacmel on the south coast, about 35 kilometres from Port-au-Prince.

Canadian troops will set up hospitals and clear roads leading to Leogane.