Foreign Affairs committee  Yes, I wanted to complement what Mr. Beer was saying. Sorry, it's not a comment on the borders. I will let Mr. Derouin speak to the borders. In terms of tangible results in announcements that are being made, one thing I think Minister Oda announced in early February was a $75 million construction project to build a road between two urban centres in an area of Haiti that has really seen very little development.

Foreign Affairs committee  My colleague from CIDA will provide a partial response to your question concerning the diaspora. As you know, a consultation process was launched concerning the involvement of the Haitian diaspora in Canada. It was extended to the Americas and elsewhere, beginning with the conference that was held in 2004.

Foreign Affairs committee  Thank you for that question. I'm going to answer in French. First, I must say that CIDA considers the issue of equality between men and women to be very important. Your question is broader than the involvement of the agency in promoting equal opportunity. Our programs in Haiti are all reviewed transversally with regard to equality between men and women.

Foreign Affairs committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you for the invitation to address this committee and speak to the progress made in Haiti since the government's response was tabled in February 2007. I will provide a brief overview of the current situation and highlight some of the positive trends we are seeing, as well as some of the key themes of our engagement in Haiti going forward.