Quebec gives $2M to Red Cross for Gatineau tornado victims

GATINEAU Quebec will give $2 million to the Red Cross, which will be added to the funds already collected by the organization to help victims of the tornado in the Outaouais region last month.

During a visit to Gatineau, to take stock of the help given to people affected by the tornado, Premier François Legault said on Friday afternoon that the additional money will allow the Red Cross to help people who are still staying in hotels, among others.

“With this, we’ll have money for several months,” said Gatineau Mayor Maxime Pedneaud-Jobin. “It means we’ll have the time replace people who are in need of help and permanent homes.”

Of the 927 families affected by the tornado, around 80 have not been able to return to their homes, according to the Red Cross.

Legault also reiterated that his government will create a new program to help disaster victims.

On Friday morning, he said he had given the new Public Security Minister, Geneviève Guilbault, the mandate to create the new program, which will apply in cases of future disasters across the province to avoid the need to “reinvent the wheel” every time.

“I can only imagine a little bit of the stress of people who still don’t know if they lost everything,” he said. “We have to be able to answer these questions rapidly.”

According to Legault, people who lost everything in the tornado want to know when they will be reimbursed for some of their losses. He said the Public Security department hasn’t given him an answer.

“I don’t find it acceptable, that a month after the tragedy, we are not able to tell people: here is the percentage of your losses that will be reimbursed,” he said.

The new program that the premier wants to implement will be less bureaucratic, he said, and will be “less fuss about the supporting documents that will be requested” from victims who want to receive help. “When you’ve lost everything, you don’t necessarily have supporting documents,” he said.

The new program will tell people quickly what percentage of their losses will be reimbursed, he said.

“It does not mean that the cheque will be given the next day, but at least they will be reassured,” Legault said.