Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I would also like to take the opportunity to thank our witnesses for joining us today and to apologize for the delay in starting the study.
What is happening in Haiti is, of course, extremely complex, and your expertise and sharing of your perspectives is vital for this committee to understand the challenges facing the Haitian people.
I would like to follow up a little bit on some of the questions that have been asked by my colleagues.
With regard to the Core Group and how it is working, Mr. Bergeron just brought up the previous special envoy to Haiti, Mr. Foote, who said in his letter of resignation that what our Haitian friends really want is the opportunity to chart their own course without international puppeteering and favoured candidates, making it very clear that he felt that the Core Group had, in fact, overstepped.
We've heard from a number of different sources that there has been the impression that there is interference in what is happening in Haiti. Of course, we should all should believe in the idea that the solution for Haitians must come from Haitians and that we must give Haitians the ability to select their own course, select their leadership and government.
I just want to get a little better understanding on how the Core Group works and the response, I guess, to those very clear calls from many different sources that the Core Group is once again involved in trying to pick some sort of leadership on behalf of the Haitian people instead of allowing those democratic processes to go forward.