Canadian relief for tsunamis still only flowing in a trickle

The Globe and Mail – June 24, 2005 BY JEFF SALLOT WITH A REPORT FROM MARINA JIMÉNEZ OTTAWA — Six months after the devastating tsunami that washed away hundreds of Indian Ocean coastal communities, the Canadian government’s aid agency has signed only two contracts for reconstruction projects, worth a total of $9-million. One is a water-supply project in Indonesia and the other involves training construction workers in Sri Lanka. But the Canadians who donated millions of dollars to tsunami relief in the expectation of government matching funds should not be concerned by the pace of the effort, Aileen Carroll, the minister responsible for the Canadian International Development Agency, said yesterday. “In coming weeks and coming months additional reconstruction projects worth tens of millions of dollars will be put into action,” she said, estimating that the scope of what’s required “will be measured in years and decades.” A spokesman for the minister, Andrew…