Canadian aid worker was a father and veteran
Jacob Flickinger was from Quebec, joined World Central Kitchen after mission in Mexico
A Canadian man killed Monday along with six other aid workers in the Gaza Strip was a military veteran from Quebec whose death leaves behind a partner and a one-year-old son.
Jacob Flickinger, 33, joined the World Central Kitchen aid organization last fall at the urging of his good friend Jonathan Duguay. Flickinger had been helping the group in Gaza since early March.
“Jacob was a fantastic guy,” Duguay said in an interview. The two met in 2010 when they were serving together in Afghanistan, he added.
“He was always supportive, always smiling.”
Duguay himself joined World Central Kitchen in September, helping with food aid in Morocco following the devastating earthquake near Marrakesh. In November he convinced Flickinger to come on board.
Their first aid mission was in Mexico, providing food after Hurricane Otis slammed into the Acapulco area as a category five storm.
“We were both diagnosed with PTSD after Afghanistan,” Duguay said. “This (aid work) changed my life, changed our lives. We used our military skills to bring solutions in chaos.”
They travelled to the Middle East in early March, as World Central Kitchen was planning major expansions — including ambitious plans to deliver the first aid to Gaza by sea in more than two decades.
With Israel enforcing strict rules on aid coming in by truck, World Central Kitchen devised a plan to build a makeshift jetty on the northern Gaza coast. They used the rubble of destroyed buildings to build up a small pier, from which pallets of food could be unloaded by a small crane from boats onto waiting trucks.
The first shipment, with about 200 tonnes of food, was sent across on March 15, carrying cans of vegetables and proteins, bags of rice and legumes. The second left Cyprus on Saturday with twice as much aid. Duguay was on the Cyprus side; Flickinger was part of the Gaza relief team.
They spoke multiple times a day by phone or by text. Their last phone conversation, on March 31, was just about normal things, discussing the shipment.
Flickinger wasn’t scared or apprehensive, said Duguay. “He just wanted to help people.”
At 3 a.m. on April 2, Duguay was awakened by his phone ringing. It was another aid worker from Gaza calling to say an “incident” at the warehouse in Deir al-balah in central Gaza had killed seven of their colleagues.
“I knew Jacob was there,” Duguay said.
The convoy had just delivered food to the warehouse and was driving away when the Israeli airstrikes hit — an attack the Israeli government has characterized as a tragic mistake.
Duguay said the teams felt safe because the Israel Defence Force was told of the plan. Israel had approved and provided security for the construction of the jetty, World Central Kitchen said.
“We had an agreement with the IDF,” said Duguay. “There was a special route. They knew where we were.”
It was Duguay who delivered the tragic news by phone to Sandy, Flickinger’s partner, who was at home in Costa Rica with the couple’s baby, whose name the family has chosen to withhold.
Flickinger and Sandy met almost five years ago at a cold water plunge in Quebec. Flickinger is a dual Canadian and American citizen — his father is American and lives in Miami. But Duguay said Flickinger grew up in Saint-Georges, Que., about 100 kilometres south of Quebec City.
“He fell in love immediately,” said Duguay.
The Canadian Armed Forces said Wednesday that Flickinger served from 2008 until 2019. He joined as a reserve infantry member with Le Regiment de la Chaudière and was deployed to Afghanistan as a rifleman.
He joined the regular force as infantry with Quebec’s storied Royal 22e Régiment, known as the Van Doos, in 2012. He was a master corporal when he retired from the army in 2019.
Flickinger’s father, John, said in a Facebook post that his son’s death is a “heartbreaking tragedy.”
“My son, Jacob, was killed Monday
delivering food aid to starving families in Gaza,” John Flickinger wrote. “He died doing what he loved and serving others through his work with the World Central Kitchen.”
A Go Fund Me page has been started to raise funds for a funeral and a trust fund for Flickinger’s son. Nearly $30,000 had already been raised by Wednesday evening.
Also killed in Monday’s airstrike were Lalzawmi (Zomi) Frankcom, 43, from Australia, Polish national Damian Sobol, 35, and Palestinian Saifeddin Issam Ayad Abutaha. There were also three British military veterans killed, including John Chapman, 57, James Henderson, 33, and James Kirby, 47.
Canada is demanding an explanation from Israel.
“The world needs very clear answers as to how this happened,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Wednesday.
Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly said she spoke to Israeli foreign minister Israel Katz on Tuesday night and is “calling for a full investigation.”
World Central Kitchen founder José Andrés said the deaths of his seven colleagues are “the direct result” of Israeli policy, which “squeezed humanitarian aid to desperate levels.”
Duguay said he plans to help the family with funeral plans, but insisted the tragedy wouldn’t keep him from returning to his job. That’s not what Jacob would have wanted, he said.
“We need to continue to feed people,” said Duguay. “That’s my main mission. It was Jacob’s main mission. He was a brother in arms. We were mates. I’m going to miss him.”
‘‘ He died doing what he loved and serving others through his work.
JOHN FLICKINGER FATHER OF JACOB