90,000 Canadians ask govt to send water bombers to Australia

Nearly 90,000 Canadians have already signed a petition asking Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to send water bombers and additional personnel to help put out the fires in Australia.

The petition is growing rapidly and has support from Canadians across the country.

When looking for ways Canada can help more, Rodrigo Arrambide (a 24-year old from Candiac, Quebec) found that Canada has one of the largest fleets of water bombers in the world. Petition signers agree that our fleet of CL-415 water bombers is currently being underutilised this time of year.

“We have the capacity to send additional help including water bombers and more firefighters. The links between Canada and Australia run deep. Australia has been there to help us in the past, so now is our time to step up for them,” says Rodrigo Arrambide.

Laura Dunens, Campaigns Director, Change.org Canada, notes how remarkable it was to see nearly 90,000 signatures for a petition, only a few days after it was started.
“Being an Australian living in Canada, I hear from many of my Canadian friends and colleagues that they want to do anything they can to help. It’s hard to be away from home at a time like this, but seeing the support from Canadians is encouraging,” says Dunens.

The fifth deployment of firefighting experts from across Canada arrived in Melbourne last week. There are currently more than 90 Canadian firefighters in Australia.
The two countries have a history of collaborating to fight fires, with similar tactics and strategies. We have the resources and specialised equipment to do more, and the petition signers say Canada should. Australians have also helped fight Canadian wildfires in the past.

So far, over 13 million acres of land in Australia has been destroyed. An estimated billion animals have already burned to death.

This petition continues to grow.