Canadian businesses add to Haiti relief effort

Canadian businesses have committed millions of dollarsin aid for victims of the earthquake that has ravaged Haiti.

It comes as relief groups are requesting cash over all other forms of aid because of the need to pay for food, clean water and medical supplies.

BMO Financial Group has pledged $250,000 to the Red Cross effort. "The devastation in Haiti is massive, and all of us at BMO are deeply saddened by the news," CEO Bill Downe said in a release. "We are also making a direct appeal to our 36,000 employees to consider donating to the relief efforts."

Most banks and credit card companies, as well as money transfer services like Western Union and MoneyGram, have suspended feeson transactions forcharitable donations to the relief effort.

Montreal-based tour operator Transat will donate $25,000 to the Red Cross Haiti Earthquake Fund, and$25,000 to its partner SOS Children's Villages, which runs afacility for orphaned and abandoned children in Port-au-Prince.

"We cannot help but be moved by the misfortune and hardship that Haiti's people are now facing, and we intend to take all means at our disposal to respond to their pressing needs," Transat CEO Jean-Marc Eustache said in a news release.

Air Transat has temporarily suspended itsweekly flight to Haiti because the airport is unable to receive it.

Otherfirms making donations include:

• Rogers Communications and the Rogers family will donate $250,000 in funds and goods to Partners In Health: Haiti and other relief organizations.
• National Bank of Canada will contribute up to $250,000 to the Canadian Red Cross.
• Scotiabank will give $250,000 to the Canadian Red Cross's Haiti Earthquake Relief Fund.
• TD Bank Financial Group and the Royal Bank of Canada will each provide $100,000 to the Red Cross, andCIBC and FirstCaribbean International Bank will also provide$100,000 toearthquake relief efforts.
• Ikea Canada has promised a $50,000 donation to its long-standing philanthropic partner UNICEF.
• Toronto-based Intact Financial Corporation has donated an initial $50,000 to the Canadian Red Cross.
• Home Hardware will donate $25,000 to the Mennonite Central Committeefor the Haitian earthquake relief.

Credit card controversy

All three major credit card operators, MasterCard, Visa and American Express, have announced they will suspendinterchange fees on Haitian relief donations to certainorganizations, includingthe Canadian Red Cross, Doctors Without Borders/Mdecins Sans Frontires, UNICEF Canada and World Vision.

Their action followscriticism earlier this week when it was learned they were continuing to charge up tothree per cent of charitable donations for transaction fees.

Credit card companies rarelywaivefees but did so during the massive charitable outpouring that followed theAsian tsunami in 2004.

Interchange fees are typically a flat fee plus a percentage of the total purchase price of the product or service, or in these cases the donation amount.