An RCMP officer who left Nova Scotia for a peace operation in Haiti is one of two Canadian officers missing in the aftermath of the severe earthquake.
Sgt. Mark Gallagher is well known in both police and media circles. For the past two years, Gallagher was the public-relations officer for the RCMP in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.
Gallagher left Halifax in July to train Haitian police as part of a United Nations mission. He had been vacationing with his family and returned to the capital Port-au-Prince the day of the earthquake.
His wife, Lisa, said she spoke to him just 30 minutes before the quake. Now she worries her husband may be trapped beneath the rubble of a two-storey apartment building he was living in.
“I’m assuming his apartment building has sustained some damage and I just hope he’s not stuck in the rubble,” she said in an interview from their home in Northampton, N.B.
“I’m just hoping that if he’s stuck somewhere, he can hang on until they get to him.”
Local RCMP would not confirm Gallagher’s building had collapsed.
Gallagher, 50, has been a police officer for 20 years.
His predecessor, Sgt. Brigdit Leger, said the force was hoping for a safe ending and a speedy return to his family.
“Sgt. Gallagher was excited to go to Haiti. He always embraces every opportunity to do good,” she said.
Justice Minister and former RCMP officer Ross Landry also sent well wishes to Gallagher and his loved ones.
“My prayers and my thoughts — as a fellow officer and a member of the force I have deep emotions — our prayers go out to him and his family,” Landry said. “We’re going to wait and see.”
Gallagher was one of 82 Canadian officers from various forces working in Haiti.
Supt. Douglas Coates of Ottawa is also missing.
Background
Sgt. Mark Gallagher is originally from Bathurst, N.B., and is married with two adult children.
