Foreign Affairs Committee on Sept. 23rd, 2025

[Shelby Kramp-Neuman, Conservative, Hastings—Lennox and Addington—Tyendinaga, ON]

That's fair enough.

In your introduction, you spoke to the very grave situation, and the notes we were provided spoke to “a perfect storm of suffering”, which is extraordinarily tragic.

Given the worsening situation and gang control, how can Canada ensure that aid is actually accessible to Haitians on the ground?

[Mark Richardson]

That's another excellent question.

As Ian alluded to in some of his answers, I think that is something we struggle with on a regular basis.

From a very practical level, it comes down to the partners that we choose to work with. Increasingly, because of how complex the situation is, we are devolving to working with more multilateral organizations that have robust structures in place in order to support the efforts they have on the ground.

[Shelby Kramp-Neuman, Conservative, Hastings—Lennox and Addington—Tyendinaga, ON]

Thank you.

Next, I'm curious as to what tools the government is using to actually track the dollars that are being spent—all $450 million plus, since 2022.

Could you speak to any measurable outcomes that Global Affairs is able to provide on where and how Canada is actually making a difference? How is that tracked?

[Mark Richardson]

That is something we do actively track. We do want to see value and obviously hope to ensure that the money we're investing in Haiti does help the Haitian people, which is the point.

As I've previously stated, we can stay, and we have tracked that our emergency food assistance has helped over one million people in Haiti. We have provided, as I mentioned before, daily meals to 100,000 schoolchildren; we've enabled, for instance, more than 65,000 women to access a variety of health services; and we've trained, I think, 330 CARICOM officers for MSSM deployment.

We do track these things actively, but for more specifics I might turn to my colleague, Ian.

[Ian Myles]

Just to add a few examples, we do have rigorous results-based management systems that are part of what we do for all of our programs. Even under the trying, difficult circumstances in Haiti, we still insist on regular reporting. We track that. We ask difficult questions as well.

To give some sense, we're working on anti-corruption, for instance. On that side, we're helping to provide a legal system to over 10,000 victims, including 3,155 women. Helping women who have been victims of sexual abuse to access medical services and psychosocial treatment is also a key thing that we've been doing.

In 2023 alone, we had 1.26 million people who received emergency food assistance, and 74,630 children under five received malnutrition treatment out of 361,000 who were screened, so it gives you a bit of a sense of the numbers and the scale.

I would flag, as well, that one of the challenges is that over 1.4 million people have been displaced from their homes because of the gang violence. That poses additional challenges in terms of how to sustain and support those people as well when they're pushed out of their homes, so it is a very challenging situation.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ahmed Hussen]

Thank you very much.

We'll now go to Mr. Oliphant. You have five minutes.

[Rob Oliphant, Liberal, Don Valley West, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

First of all, thank you very much to Mr. Brunelle‑Duceppe for taking the initiative to propose a study of this kind.

With everything that is happening in the world right now, including the crises in Ukraine and Palestine, our situation is complex, but this affects our hemisphere. Given Haiti's close proximity to Canada, it is absolutely necessary to have this kind of discussion.

Thank you as well for being with us today.

I have a couple more microquestions.

Regarding our embassy and our diplomatic presence, we obviously have concerns. You've mentioned that there are many countries that have withdrawn. We have downsized our embassy. These are our personnel on the ground.

How are we doing, and how are we ensuring the safety of our personnel?

[Mark Richardson]

Our embassy continues to be fully operational under the leadership of our ambassador, André François Giroux. Of course, as the member stated, one of our primordial concerns is for their safety, so we do look at that very actively. That is a key function of leadership that we look to the ambassador to comment on and ensure that we are doing what needs to be done to ensure the safety of our personnel on the ground.

[Rob Oliphant, Liberal, Don Valley West, ON]

In terms of consular issues, we have dual citizens, we have Canadians living in Haiti and we have family members travelling. Are we able to keep up with requests for consular assistance?

[Mark Richardson]

My understanding is that yes, we are able to keep up with requests for consular assistance in Haiti.

Obviously, our travel advice, which has been in place for a number of years, is to not go to Haiti and to avoid all travel there, but we are aware that there are quite a few Canadian citizens who continue to live in Haiti, so we continue to provide them with services.

Our advice to them is to have their documents ready and to obviously take care of themselves and, if they are able to, get out of the country.

[Rob Oliphant, Liberal, Don Valley West, ON]

On Sunday, Canada signed a declaration presented by Australia and a few other countries on the protection of humanitarian aid workers. This is a UN declaration, and about 100 countries have signed it.

I think a doctor or nurse from Doctors Without Borders was killed last year.

Do we know of other aid workers who have been killed? Does Canada have a role in protecting humanitarian aid workers in Haiti because we have a larger presence than some countries?

[Mark Richardson]

I'll defer to Ian on that question.

[Ian Myles]

To my knowledge, the challenges that Médecins Sans Frontières had were particularly directed toward the people they were carrying, because they have to go in and out of gang-controlled areas, which means there's always suspicion as to whether they're helping the gangs. That was one of the real challenges.

From Canada's side, we tried to provide as much support as we could, particularly in terms of engaging with the Haitian National Police at the highest levels on a regular basis to raise our concerns, to look at how to create dialogue directly with humanitarian workers, to discuss the protocols and to avoid incidents happening. It's not straightforward.

I'm not aware of any other situations or casualties. It does mean that the enhanced security processes and protocols are cumbersome and very expensive, often involving movement in armoured vehicles and so on. It's extremely expensive.

[Rob Oliphant, Liberal, Don Valley West, ON]

War is always more expensive than development assistance and governance assistance, so I hope we continue in those.

The last question is with respect to its neighbour, Dominican Republic, the border between Haiti and Dominican Republic, and the security threats on the DR.

Is Canada engaging with Dominican Republic? Do we help them with intelligence or security, or do we get intelligence and security information from Dominican Republic?

What is that relationship like for Canada?

[Mark Richardson]

I can't comment on whether we're sharing intelligence back and forth with DR. I can say that we do have a very active bilateral relationship with them. Obviously, the situation in Haiti and its spillover effects on them are a key part of that.

We are very grateful to them for their assistance.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ahmed Hussen]

Thank you.

Mr. Brunelle‑Duceppe, you have the floor for two and a half minutes.

[Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe, Bloc, Lac-Saint-Jean, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Do you know whether the gangs currently plaguing Haiti have ties to people on Canadian soil?

[Mark Richardson]

We are under the impression that yes, they do, as I mentioned in my opening statements. That is a matter for the RCMP, Canadian security services or Public Safety to comment on.

[Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe, Bloc, Lac-Saint-Jean, QC]

I understand, but wouldn't blocking their communication channels already be a step forward? Perhaps we're talking about money laundering or financial support that comes from here and goes to Haiti. I understand that this is the responsibility of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, but it is also part of a foreign affairs strategy to realize that there is a problem there and that it is making the situation in Haiti worse.

[Mark Richardson]

I take your point. What I can say is that, so far, we have implemented sanctions against 34 Haitians, and that has had a significant impact.

In terms of measures to combat money laundering here, that's really a question for other departments.

[Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe, Bloc, Lac-Saint-Jean, QC]

I appreciate that.

There's also the fact that Mr. Trump signed an executive order depriving many Haitians in the United States of the visas that allow them to stay there.

Is that part of the discussions between Canada and the United States? The United States wants to improve the situation in Haiti, but if the Americans start deporting Haitians from their country, I imagine that Canada is having discussions with them about the consequences of the decree Mr. Trump signed against Haitians living on American soil.

[Mark Richardson]

We are aware of President Trump's comments about Haitians in the United States, but so far, it hasn't been a measure that Mr. Trump has discussed with us.

If we got to that point, it would be a matter that would fall under the policies of the Department of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ahmed Hussen]

Thank you very much. Unfortunately, your time is up.

We'll now go to Mr. Aboultaif.

You have five minutes.

[Ziad Aboultaif, Conservative, Edmonton Manning, AB]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

Canadians are watching—this is a public session, basically.

As Canadians, how well do we understand the network of gangs in Haiti?

[Mark Richardson]

As Global Affairs Canada, that's not something we track directly and actively—at least that I am aware of in my position. That would be a matter for another witness or, perhaps, someone from Public Safety or the RCMP to comment on.