Mr. Speaker, on May 18, the Montreal Haitian community gathered to commemorate the 204th anniversary of the Haitian flag and to inaugurate Place de l'Unité, a Haitian memorial in the Saint-Michel neighbourhood.
This public space was designed by the Haitian-Quebec cultural association, La Perle Retrouvée. They have installed statues of Toussaint Louverture, Jean-Jacques Dessalines, Catherine Flon, Alexandre Pétion, Sanite Bélair et Henri Christophe, six historical figures who contributed to the birth of Haiti, the first black republic in history.
This place of gathering and solidarity will allow the Haitian community in Montreal to celebrate its culture and to perpetuate the memory of the heroes of independence.
My Bloc Québécois colleagues and I congratulate La Perle Retrouvée for this vibrant testimony to the Haitian flag and the courage of our ancestors, and to the settlement of the Haitian community in Quebec.