OTTAWA -- An Ottawa pastor rescued a Haitian orphan from being sold for $50 on Wednesday.

Pastor Noel Ismorin runs a children's orphanage and school in Gonaives, outside the capital of Port au Prince, and was approached by a man trying sell Noel a young boy for $50.

Noel refused to pay and ended up rescuing the boy from the man. But, he downplayed his actions when reached by the Ottawa Sun on telephone. He refused to directly talk about the incident,, which was first reported by the Daily Telegraph in England.

"That exists in every country in the world," he said of child trafficking. "I see how these things happen ... We don't buy children."

There are reports of up to one million children in the hard-hit country left without parents or guardians first by a massive hurricane two years ago and now by the earthquake.

Ismorin was in Haiti when the earthquake hit Jan. 12. He was continuing efforts to rebuild the La Judee Orphanage he and his wife, Louise Noel, opened in 2004. Hurricane Ike destroyed it in 2008.

Because of the destruction in the area as a result of Ike, the orphanage had grown from eight kids to as many as 45.

There were 35 children in the orphanage before the quake, according to its website, haitiorphanproject.com.

Gonaives is about 150 km north of Port au Prince and Ismorin said they aren't taking orphans from Port au Prince.

"For now we haven't been able to help (any orphans) because it doesn't respond to our vocation," said Ismorin. "We're working on a building here."

His orphanage was in bad shape prior to the quake.

"We're building a roof, we need food," he said. "We're looking for help from the Canadian community, which has always supported us since 2004."