Winnipeg resident Jim Sutton said he will never forget his first trip to Asheville, North Carolina, following the deadly impact of Hurricane Helene.
“When you come from a flat place like Winnipeg and you go to a place like North Carolina, where everything is either uphill or downhill and everything’s in the bottom of a gully, and all that rain comes to the bottom of the gully, and whatever’s in it just gets swept away. It was horrific,” he said. ”Words don’t describe it.”
The Canadian veteran has been a member of Team Rubicon Canada for the past two years. The volunteer organization sends veterans and retired first responders to provide disaster relief. Sutton, alongside more than 60 other members, surveyed homes, cut down trees, and recovered valuables for washed-out residents.
While weather disasters don’t scare him, neither does the current political climate in the United States.
“If you walk by a swimming pool and someone’s drowning, you don’t ask them what church they go to or what political party they voted for; you pull them out of the pool,” Sutton said.
In fact, Sutton was given the opportunity to travel down to North Carolina a second time in late March and did not think twice about helping Americans in need.
This time around he was one of only two Canadians with time to volunteer.
Many Canadians are turning their backs on our southern neighbours as President Donald Trump calls for Canada to become the 51st state. An ethics professor from the University of Manitoba said supporting the Americans right now during times of crisis can be a moral dilemma.
“In an emergency, which is a dire emergency, our common humanity is what matters most,” said Arthur Schafer, founding director of the Centre for Professional and Applied Ethics at the University of Manitoba.
“We set aside our self-interest, our personal feelings, and we come to help our neighbour. But when the immediate emergency is passed, then other considerations come into play, and our sense of our duty to help will be only minimal if our neighbour has been acting in a way that’s outright hostile.”
Sutton wore a shirt with a Canadian flag patch sewn on while in North Carolina and was quickly acknowledged by American residents for his willingness to travel over 2,000 kilometres to help.
“Every time on this trip that somebody realized I was Canadian, the first thing out of their mouth was, ‘I am so sorry about what is happening right now,” Sutton said.
Despite the strained relationship between the two countries, Sutton said he will not hesitate to help if called on later this year.
“Yes, in a heartbeat,” Sutton said. “A lot of these people are seniors with limited incomes, and you show up and you make it possible for them to get through their front door instead of having to just use the back door again.”
Sutton said the emotional response weighed on him.
“They are bringing out cookies, or they’re showing up at the fire hall the next day with plates of food, and they’re giving you hugs spontaneously,” he said. “It’s an experience to do something and help other people. It’s so gratifying to have a sense of purpose and feel that you’ve made an impact in other people’s lives.”
