Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. Good morning, everyone. How can we talk about human rights when democracy in Haiti is still at the starting gate? Since the fall of the Duvalier regime in 1986, Haiti has known only very short periods of democracy, too short for a culture of democracy to

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  I think the key word in your intervention is “road map”. The government of Haiti has asked Canada—well, the UN asked Canad—to take leadership with a military intervention in Haiti. In fact, I believe Canada has already taken that leadership. The thing is that Canada has not made,

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  The first part of your question was whether this was a request or an order. I would like to remind you that before the Ariel Henry government carried out the order, the Secretary General of the Organization of American States, Luis Almagro, was the second person to say that Haiti

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Canada has invested in aid programs, including for democratic development. Canada makes a practice of doing that. The rules have to be changed, because the people who are in power in Haiti and are leading the country are people my age, 60 or 65 or 70 years old. Those people have

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  It is not important to me. The situation in the country is too serious to dwell on symbols. There are lives at stake. Women, girls, people are being raped, children are becoming child soldiers. We are not there.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  We shall see after.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  I prefer that we express thanks.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  If we wanted to eliminate the gang leaders in Haiti, we would not need to send anyone in, since I have seen on the news that it is possible to eliminate Al Qaeda people from the comfort of one's balcony. When I look at the situation in Ukraine, I see that it is not really the Uk

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Keep in mind that 40% of the economy of Haiti depends on transfers from the diaspora. The Haitian diaspora, particularly in Canada, is therefore extremely important, since it directly supports the economy of Haiti. Everyone knows someone who is suffering insecurity, be it a famil

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  I have not seen any support for Ariel Henry in the diaspora, and I believe everyone has understood that his government is illegitimate. Personally, I say it is not a government. However, I want to point out that whatever solution is put in place, whether it be the Montana accord

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  If I may, I'd like to answer that question by saying that what we're seeing in Haiti right now is a civil war. One of the gangs, which is named “Mouvement révolutionnaire G9”, has an objective of overthrowing the government. In the past months, they have, in the first place, as

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  The one that we talk most about is “G9 en famille”, the “Mouvement révolutionnaire”. One of the senators that was sanctioned by Canada, Joseph Lambert, had said at one point, “If ever we want to dismantle the gangs, we also have to keep in mind that there are some of them who a

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Yes, you're correct.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Yes. But I want to emphasize that their definition of “revolutionary” is not the way I see a revolution. I just want to make sure that.... They are still criminals, not people who want the good for their country.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  We agree on this. If we want to work on trade capacity-building, security has to be the first item that we have to solve. Why would you invest in a country where you might lose all your investment because of gangs?