Notice – Operation Stork: Update on adoptions from Haiti: January 27, 2010

January 27, 2010 — A second flight carrying 52 children will arrive in Canada on January 27. These children are the second group to arrive in Canada whose adoptions are at the final stages of approval and have been cleared by the Haitian government.

The flight will arrive at the Canada Reception Centre (Hangar 11) at Ottawa International Airport at approximately 1 pm (Eastern time). Parents whose children are on the flight and media are invited to attend. Media are asked to contact Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) Media Relations to confirm attendance at 613-952-1650.

Canadian Embassy staff in Haiti are working hard to find and identify all the children that have been cleared for adoption to Canada by the Government of Haiti and by provincial adoption authorities. We are bringing children to Canada as we locate and identify them and inform their adoptive parents. Additional flights will follow within the next week. Most flights will arrive in Ottawa, but there may be some exceptions.

Parents will be notified once the arrival of their child has been confirmed on a specific flight.

Statistics to date:

• 32 children from Haiti who were in the adoption process have been united with their families in Canada.
  • 24 children arrived in Ottawa on Sunday, January 24. The children range in age from 11 months to 14 years in age, and were accompanied by 15 Air Canada representatives, five CIC officials, and a medical team. One child arrived on a Canadian Forces evacuation flight on January 26. The other seven children arrived through the United States having been evacuated on American evacuation flights.
• The flight on Wednesday, January 27 will be carrying 52 children. The children range in age from six months to 18 years of age. Twenty-four of the children are destined for Quebec and the other children are going to British Columbia (4), Alberta (11), Saskatchewan (8), Ontario (1), New Brunswick (2), and Nova Scotia (2). These children will also be accompanied by airline staff, CIC officials, and a medical team.
• In total, the Government of Haiti has so far given its permission for 217 children to come to Canada. These children were already in the adoption process when the earthquake struck Port-au-Prince.
  
  
  • Provincial breakdown:

• CIC’s Call Centre received an average of 37,849 calls per day from January 18-25. This is a 50% increase over regular call volumes. The Call Centre has also received nearly 2,500 emails.
• CIC is organizing a number of information sessions for groups in the Montréal Haitian community in order to provide them with information on the special immigration measures and on how they can sponsor members of their immediate family who were directly and serious affected by the earthquake in Haiti. Over 1,500 people have attended the information sessions in Montréal.

A total of 237 children were adopted from Haiti by Canadians in 2008 and January‑September of 2009.