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.