Prime Minister Paul Martin is trying to calm fears that Canadian aid would be withheld from areas controlled by Tamil rebels, as he reached out to the south Asian community in Toronto.

Speaking at a news conference, Martin said he had assurances from the Sri Lankan government that aid had indeed been reaching people who most needed it.

"We will continue to monitor the situation and we will not accept it if Canadian aid is not distributed equitably," he told reporters.

"That was a condition of our aid and it is one that we will insist upon."

Martin, who has been criticized for his response to the tsunami disaster, spoke to school children and members of the south Asian community Monday.

His first stop Monday morning was at Cedarwoods Public School, in the Toronto suburb of Markham. Over the holiday, the school opened up to parents concerned about relatives in south Asia so that people could share information on the Internet.

"It is a terrible thing to lose relatives," Martin told the crowd gathered at the school. "It is much more terrible to lose them so far away in a situation where you can't reach out and touch them."

He next met with members of the south Asian community at the Delta Hotel, who were gracious but also somewhat critical of the government's immediate response to the disaster, according to CFTO's Paul Bliss.

"One doctor in particular told me that there are people dying of infection and we need to get medical teams over there right now," Bliss said.

But Martin, who increased the level of Canadian aid to $80 million on Sunday, rejected any criticism his government's response had been slow in coming.

"I think that we were very quick off the mark. Of course, we would like to be quicker, but nobody expected that this was going to happen.

"But if you simply compare us with other countries, I think that we have done very well," Martin told reporters after meeting with members of the South Asian community.

He also confirmed that the military's Disaster Assistance Response Team, or DART, would be deployed.

Earlier Monday, Defence Minister Bill Graham said that DART would be sent to Sri Lanka beginning Thursday -- the group's first assignment in five years.

Sri Lanka was one of four nations hardest-hit by the tsunamis triggered by the 9.0-magnitude earthquake that struck on Dec. 26. About 30,000 people have died there.

The death toll continues to climb, and currently sits at more than 139,000. The hardest hit region is Indonesia, where 94,000 people have died. The death toll has also continued to climb in India and Thailand.

At least five Canadians are confirmed killed, and another 150 are unaccounted for. But Martin refused to consider the missing as dead.

"I still think that there's hope," Martin said. "And I think if you take a look at earlier events, earthquakes where weeks later people are found alive. I'm not prepared to close that door."

Aid is slowly beginning to reach people in remote areas, with the help of aid agencies and donations from a number of foreign countries.

Officials are also starting to travel to the region, including Foreign Affairs Minister Pierre Pettigrew, International Cooperation Minister Aileen Carroll and Health Minister Ujjal Dosanjh.

A team of 10 RCMP forensics experts will also assist the victim identification process in Thailand.