Canadian relief workers finishing Philippines tasks

OTTAWA — Canada’s disasterrelief effort in the Philippines is winding up, with the military hoping to get most of its people home for Christmas.

The announcement Monday signals the end of a successful, politically safe mission that one defence observer says could be repeated for other humanitarian crises in the run-up to the next federal election in 2015.

The Disaster Assistance Response Team, deployed in the wake of typhoon Haiyan, has done its work and is preparing to leave the island nation.

“Today the situation in the Philippines has stabilized, with efforts now firmly focused on the way ahead, on recovery and reconstruction,” Neil Reeder, Canada’s ambassador-designate to the Philippines, said Monday.

Col. Steve Kelsey of Canadian Joint Operations Command said the aim is to get many of the 315 deployed military personnel home for the holidays.

However, he said he is “cautious about using a date, because we don’t want to create expectation for the families.”

The Philippines government says the immediate relief efforts are finished and that it can work on long-term needs with its own resources.

After the typhoon traced a path of destruction across the islands, Canada sent military personnel to the northern part of the island of Panay.

Walter Dorn, an expert in peacekeeping and a professor at the Royal Military College, says humanitarian relief operations rank as the most popular type of mission among Canadians in publicopinion research carried out by National Defence.