Foreign Affairs Committee on March 20th, 2024

[Sophie Chatel, Liberal, Pontiac, QC]

There have been precedents. It's been done in other dire situations like this.

You advise and collaborate with immigration. You don't work in silos, do you?

[Sébastien Beaulieu]

No, and we'll be happy to pass on this committee's questions and comments at our next daily interdepartmental meeting.

[Sophie Chatel, Liberal, Pontiac, QC]

Wonderful, thank you.

Earlier, you mentioned the transitional presidential council, which is currently under negotiation.

What are your expectations? The Haitian community in my riding is worried. There have been negotiations before and they failed. The situation is very tense. There are street gangs and criminal gangs out there. What are the key elements of these negotiations? What hope do you have for the success of this agreement?

[Sylvie Bédard]

Mr. Chair, Haitians have been working for 30 months to establish a political governance entity capable of leading them to free and fair elections. The transitional governance arrangement committed to on March 11 was an extremely positive step. That said, its implementation remains a challenge, which is no surprise. These political groups are not accustomed to working together. Since the agreement was reached in March, it has taken a few days for the various groups—

[Sophie Chatel, Liberal, Pontiac, QC]

May I interrupt you for a moment, please?

Mr. Chair, I'm having a really hard time hearing the answer. Any time Mr. Bergeron or I speak, it seems as though there is suddenly a lot of noise.

[Stéphane Bergeron, Bloc, Montarville, QC]

It seems as though it's less important to listen to the discussions in French.

[Sophie Chatel, Liberal, Pontiac, QC]

That's more or less the feeling I have.

I apologize to the people behind me, as well, but I would like to hear the answer.

May I continue? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Mrs. Bédard, could you start again?

[The Chair, Liberal, Ali Ehsassi]

I'm sorry, MP Chatel, but can you give some guidelines, 30 seconds maybe?

[Sophie Chatel, Liberal, Pontiac, QC]

I didn't hear anything, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ali Ehsassi]

Are you saying that for the entire five minutes you didn't hear anything?

[Sophie Chatel, Liberal, Pontiac, QC]

I really tried, but you were talking, and there were conversations taking place all around me. I'm sorry. Maybe I need to put my earpiece in to hear the answer.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ali Ehsassi]

If that is the case, then going forward, perhaps members could inform us right there and then, because we have just wasted five minutes.

Are you willing to abridge your time to maybe three minutes?

[Sophie Chatel, Liberal, Pontiac, QC]

Yes.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ali Ehsassi]

You have three minutes, please.

[Sylvie Bédard]

For the past 30 months, Haitians have been working to establish a political governance entity capable of leading them to free and fair elections. The agreement reached on Monday, March 11, was indeed a positive and important step. It should come as no surprise that its implementation remains challenging. The political groups that are part of this presidential agreement are not accustomed to working together. The agreement is gradually taking shape.

Strengthening the country's political governance is essential to stabilizing security in Haiti. That said, in the short term, we shouldn't necessarily expect the announcement of the formation of the presidential council to be immediately welcomed by local groups in the country. We can therefore expect the local security situation to remain fluid over the next few days.

Of course, looking at the medium and long term, all the support provided by Canada and the international community to establish and strengthen political governance in Haiti was essential. It is a cornerstone of the efforts to stabilize the situation in the country.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ali Ehsassi]

Thank you very much, MP Chatel.

We will now go to Mr. Bergeron.

You have five minutes.

[Stéphane Bergeron, Bloc, Montarville, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you to the witnesses for joining us today and answering our questions. Mr. Beaulieu, I very much appreciate your offer to bring these questions and comments to the interdepartmental committee. However, we'd also appreciate it if you could return the answers to us. We'd be very grateful.

It's no secret that Canada didn't necessarily want Prime Minister Henry to remain in office. Was it the right time to make that change, when there was a new outbreak of violence? History will be the judge of that.

I have two questions. The interim committee was supposed to have been formed within 24 to 48 hours. We're well past that. Should we be concerned about that?

Also, how were the groups that are meant to be part of this interim committee selected, knowing that some of the groups selected haven't always been the most upstanding citizens?

[Sylvie Bédard]

Mr. Chair, following the latest iteration of the crisis in Haiti, which began when President Jovenel Moïse was assassinated, Canada took the time to establish contacts with Haitian representatives from a variety of sectors. We've maintained those relationships because it's really important that we listen to the voices of the Haitian people in order to better guide our response to this crisis.

One of the guiding principles to emerge from these consultations is that everything done to support political governance must come from the Haitian people, and that they must make it their own. In our work to support political dialogue, we have always been careful to listen to the Haitian people. The meeting in Kingston took place with the participation of Haitians. Since the airport was closed at the time of the meeting, the Haitian political players took part in the discussions virtually. They were also part of every discussion leading up to the meeting in Kingston. Many of them submitted proposals for a political agreement, and, basically, what we see in the March 11 agreement are the common points that came out of some of the proposals submitted for consideration at the meeting in Kingston. These common points came from a variety of political players representing, broadly speaking, a large proportion of the political movements in Haitian society at this time.

The various stakeholders also set out the criteria to guide the appointments of the various members of the presidential council who will represent each group. These criteria include not having a criminal record and not being known to have participated in criminal acts. They also include not being subject to any of the sanctions regimes put in place by the United Nations Security Council. Finally, another important criterion is that any candidate for the presidential council, anyone who is appointed, must back the Kenyan-led security support mission.

It was based on these criteria and considerations that this proposed agreement was developed, set out and accepted by the various Haitian stakeholders.

[Stéphane Bergeron, Bloc, Montarville, QC]

If everyone agreed, why is it taking so long to finalize it?

[Sylvie Bédard]

Each of the political groups has its own base, its own members, whom it represents, and each of them—

[The Chair, Liberal, Ali Ehsassi]

You're over time, but I will give you an additional 20 seconds.

[Sylvie Bédard]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Each of them must agree on the appointment of its representative. This process takes time. It is Haitian-led and, most importantly, it is not being imposed by the international community.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ali Ehsassi]

Thank you, Mrs. Bédard.

We now go to Madam McPherson.

You have five minutes, please.

[Heather McPherson, NDP, Edmonton Strathcona, AB]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you very much for coming today and providing this briefing for us.

When I asked last week that the committee undertake this briefing, it was because what we were seeing was such a deterioration. The situation is so worrying and so dire at this moment.

I was receiving some information from Médecins Sans Frontières. I know they are one of the only organizations still actively working in the country to provide humanitarian support. I recognize that you have talked about the humanitarian support the Canadian government is providing.

I'm worried. First of all, is that support able to get there? Are there plans to work with those very few partners that are still able to work in that context? How is that support getting on the ground and getting to the people who need it most of all?

[Sylvie Bédard]

Mr. Chair, I mentioned that Canada was doing a lot in terms of humanitarian aid and development assistance. The United Nations has also launched an international appeal for $674 million in donations.

In the current circumstances, it's very difficult to get humanitarian aid to the people who need it most. The Port-au-Prince international port was closed for several days. It has since reopened, but the situation remains very fragile. The port is one of the main entry points for humanitarian aid containers. Once the basic goods and equipment have left the port, it's difficult to get them to the hospitals, the various regions of Port-au-Prince and the rest of the country, because so many roads are blocked.

As I said earlier, one of the emergency solutions implemented very recently, in the last two days actually, is the creation of an air bridge to deliver emergency medical aid, specifically by helicopter. That is one of the United Nations' solutions to the current situation. We are discussing other possible solutions with our partners on the ground.

In such a context, the support given by Canada and other international partners to the Haitian National Police and to the Kenyan-led security support mission also remains very important, if not, I would even say, crucial. One of the objectives of the security support mission is precisely to clear the roads and protect the country's critical infrastructure.