I am not very familiar with Haiti. I remember when I was a CIDA consultant from 1992 to 1995, people were already asking what we could do in Haiti. Back then, I was already quite familiar with the democratization process, so I told people at CIDA that whatever type of intervention Canada made in Haiti, I would not be too confident about the results. Unfortunately, over 10 years later, the facts have borne out my pessimism. What can I say?
Canada cannot be stopped from trying to improve the situation, perhaps for political reasons: the Haitian community in Canada is large. That does not concern me, but as an expert on democracy, I have to tell it like it is. Domestic conditions—economic, social, cultural and political conditions—in Haiti are hostile to democratic development, and even if the international community intervenes, it will not be able to change those conditions, unless it invests very heavily for a very long period of time.
The examples I give in my text are the former British colonies. Great Britain—its qualities versus other colonial powers must be recognized—managed to create conditions in a number of its colonies that were favourable to the establishment of democratic regimes; that lasted for decades and decades. Take India, for example. In 1880, England started teaching the Indian elite about local democracy, and in 1949, when India gained its independence, the Indian elite knew the rules of democracy, agreed with them and wanted them put in place. But it took 70 years.