Haitian orphans due in Canada on weekend

OTTAWA, Jan. 21 (UPI) -- Most of the 100 Haitian orphans scheduled for adoption by Canadians will arrive within days, a government minister said in Ottawa Thursday.

At a news briefing, Immigration Minister Jason Kenney said with the cooperation of the Haitian government, the children would be flown out of the country devastated by an earthquake 11 days ago, the Globe and Mail reported.

All of the children were already involved in the long process of foreign adoption. Kenney said all of them survived the earthquake, but several were ill and would receive immediate medical attention when they arrived in Ottawa.

He said 135 temporary resident visas have been issued to Haitian relatives of Canadian residents in the last three days, the Canwest News Service reported.

Meanwhile, Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon said there were 13 confirmed Canadian deaths, including two Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers, whose bodies would be repatriated Friday, the RCMP said.

Cannon said 357 Canadians were still unaccounted for as of Thursday.

Some 1,000 Canadian soldiers are in Haiti working on relief efforts and another 100 personnel and a portable hospital were being prepared for deployment in Ontario, Defense Minister Peter MacKay said.