Foreign Affairs Committee on Nov. 21st, 2024

[Michael Chong, Conservative, Wellington—Halton Hills, ON]

Thank you. I appreciate that.

I want to turn to the financial assets we've provided for Haiti. The government announced $86.2 million to support the MSSM. Has all of that money been dispensed? It has. Thank you.

How much has Canada contributed to the United Nations inter-agency humanitarian response plan for 2024? The UN had called for $673.8 million. How much has Canada contributed to that?

[Sylvie Bédard]

Canada's contribution in this regard amounts to $23 million, but the international community has met only 46% of the demand.

[Michael Chong, Conservative, Wellington—Halton Hills, ON]

Thank you, Mrs. Bédard.

You said that 31 Haitian individuals had been sanctioned by the Canadian government.

How many of them own houses or assets here in Canada?

[Sylvie Bédard]

We don't have that information to hand, but we can send it to you.

[Michael Chong, Conservative, Wellington—Halton Hills, ON]

I would appreciate that.

The former Haitian prime minister has also been sanctioned. He challenged the sanctioning in federal court.

Can you tell us what the status of that court case is right now?

[Sylvie Bédard]

From what we understand, the case is still before the courts.

[Michael Chong, Conservative, Wellington—Halton Hills, ON]

Has it gone to trial yet?

[Sylvie Bédard]

I don't have that information, but we will get it to you.

[Michael Chong, Conservative, Wellington—Halton Hills, ON]

Thank you.

Have any other individuals challenged the sanctioning in Federal Court?

[Sylvie Bédard]

Yes, we've received on a number of challenges concerning the sanctioning. They're following the legal process.

[Michael Chong, Conservative, Wellington—Halton Hills, ON]

How many have you received?

[Sylvie Bédard]

I don't have that information either. We'll send it to you.

[Michael Chong, Conservative, Wellington—Halton Hills, ON]

All right, thank you.

Do we have any other assets in the region that could be brought to bear in Haiti, for example, diplomatic assets, military assets or development assets?

[Shalini Anand]

At the moment, we have focused most of our assets directly in Haiti. We certainly have colleagues in neighbouring missions who have provided support, including in the DR. We also have had colleagues work out of neighbouring missions, when the security situation, for instance, has been elevated or aggravated. We are using our diplomatic network to support our current Canadian operations. Beyond that, we've been focused on investments directly for Haiti.

[Michael Chong, Conservative, Wellington—Halton Hills, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I have no further questions.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ali Ehsassi]

We'll now go to MP Alghabra, for five minutes.

[Omar Alghabra, Liberal, Mississauga Centre, ON]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

Good evening to the witnesses, and thank you for being here.

It appears to me that last year we had significant international momentum to put in place a multinational plan to resolve the current security situation in Haiti. While there have been some positive steps taken, it appears, maybe to the objective observer, that the critical mass, that momentum, has dissipated.

Maybe Ms. Anand or any of the other witnesses could comment on that, and maybe share their thoughts on why that appears to be the case? Maybe I'm wrong, and maybe you could correct my perception.

[Shalini Anand]

Mr. Chair, I understand the honourable member's perception.

I would note that the situation is evolving and challenging, and the security situation remains quite dire. However, there have been a number of positive steps taken in the last several months. I will walk through a few of those to show that the needle has moved, in some ways, in the right direction.

One of the key areas Canada has been investing in is Haiti's democratic transition. In the past several months, a transitional presidential council was named. That is intended to be a time-limited group with a view to two key mandate items, if you will: to improve the security situation in Haiti, and to ensure free and fair elections. One key step the transitional presidential council has taken with the former prime minister was appointing a provisional electoral council, which has started to lay the framework for elections, hopefully in the fall of 2025 and with a view to transition to a democratic government by February 2026, per their mandate. Those critical steps were taken in the last several months and will soon, hopefully, lead to a permanent democratic government. There have been some positive steps in that regard.

Second, I would note that we have spent quite a while pulling together, as an international community, the MSSM and the UN trust fund that supports it, as well as getting the first deployments under way. That is another positive step. We have seen the first Kenyan deployments. I won't go through the list again, but there are a number of other deployments expected over the next several months, which we hope will help anchor and secure the security situation and further bolster the HNP in addressing the gang-related violence that has come to bear on Haiti. Canada has been unwavering in its support from the security, democratic, fight against impunity and aid perspectives. My colleague Madame Bédard has already given you examples of some of the results we've seen on the aid file.

Therefore, while I recognize that the situation is evolving and that the country remains extremely fragile, there has been some positive momentum through the pillars I just outlined, as well as positive momentum in the international community.

[Omar Alghabra, Liberal, Mississauga Centre, ON]

Thank you for your response.

I wasn't questioning Canada's commitment. I was curious about what appears to be the attention and focus being placed on Haiti from an international perspective.

You talked a bit about the Caribbean countries and CARICOM.

Can you share with us the efforts they're leading, and how Canada is collaborating with them on those efforts?

[Sylvie Bédard]

As I said earlier, the Caribbean Community, or CARICOM, has been particularly involved in supporting the Haitian political sectors in order to establish a transitional governance entity. It's actually CARICOM that steered the political sectors toward the agreement of April 3, 2024, under which the transitional presidential council in Haiti was established.

Once that agreement was implemented, CARICOM continued its involvement by playing a guarantor role. It had to ensure that the parties concerned actually met the agreement's conditions, such as, for example, that the appointed members of the transitional presidential council not be subject to UN sanctions, that they support the UN's security support mission, and so on. To work with the Haitians, CARICOM leaders appointed three former prime ministers, who form a group of wise men or, as it were, a group of eminent persons.

In addition to supporting political governance, CARICOM has been involved in providing personnel for the Multinational Security Support Mission.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ali Ehsassi]

Thank you.

We'll next go to MP Trudel.

You have two and a half minutes.

[Denis Trudel, Bloc, Longueuil—Saint-Hubert, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Mrs. Bédard, we discussed arms trafficking earlier, and you mentioned that political elites could be involved in that. Three members of the transitional presidential council, which you just discussed, were accused of corruption this past October. First, I would like to know if that's related to arms trafficking.

Second, I'd like to know if Canada still officially trusts the transitional presidential council since the corruption charges have been laid against those three members.

[Shalini Anand]

Yes, Mr. Chair. I had noted that three members of the seven-to-nine member transitional presidential council indeed had been accused of corruption.

While all that is deeply disappointing and the transitional presidential council has not been without its challenges, I would note a positive element. Canada had strongly encouraged the presidential council to take the allegations of corruption seriously and to conduct an independent report to assess whether the allegations had any merit. The transitional presidential council and the prime minister and his group came together and did issue an independent report indicating that there was a probability that the corruption allegations did have merit.

I highlight that because it is actually a very positive step that they are taking these allegations seriously. It is also a positive step that in the initial report there was enough confidence and autonomy given to the people who were writing the report that they were able to reach this conclusion. We saw that as a positive step.

The next step is for the report to be handed over to the judiciary. Again, we see that as positive, because they are going through appropriate due process, which is something that we and the international community have been strongly encouraging. We have also, on multiple occasions, encouraged the transitional presidential council to maintain its credibility and focus on its mandate, especially the elements of security and free and fair elections.

Finally, the transitional presidential council took the step to—forgive me, but I don't know what proper expression to use—skip the rotation of the members who were accused of these alleged corruption challenges. It has moved and rotated the presidency on to somebody else who is not in the group that is the subject of these allegations.

We see those steps as very positive, and we see the transitional presidential council as taking this issue quite seriously, but we have continued to strongly encourage it to maintain focus and not let some of these political tensions allow it to lose focus from its mandate.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ali Ehsassi]

Thank you.

For the last question, we go to MP McPherson.

[Heather McPherson, NDP, Edmonton Strathcona, AB]

Thank you very much.

Thank you very much for your testimony. I see my role in this committee as that of amplifying the voices of Haitian Canadians as well. I think that's very important. My team has reached out to many Haitian Canadians and members of the Haitian community in Montreal this week just to prepare for this.

One of the concerns they raised with us was with regard to the MSSM and the fact that it is being led by Kenya and the people on that mission do not speak the same language.

It is very difficult for them to work in the context in which they find themselves. I know this is a difficult conversation, but I want to ask how Canada sees that, and why Canada continues to invest when we have heard that the Canadian Haitian community is not happy with some of the Kenyan participation.