Foreign Affairs committee  Maybe we need to update the website. First, I want to thank you for your kind words. I just want to say that the Haitian people are extraordinary. They get up every morning and face challenges that we can't even imagine as Canadians. I don't deserve to breathe the same air they

Foreign Affairs committee  ... to fight against professional soldiers is another matter.

Foreign Affairs committee  From what I understand, talks resumed a few days ago among the various parties. You mentioned the prime minister and Fritz Alphonse Jean, the president elected under the Montana accord, but there are other actors in the equation. The good news is that there are still tables in H

Foreign Affairs committee  The members of the mission came home on Saturday. They are now in Ottawa to take stock of the situation, hold meetings, and write a report. The team included two people from the Department of Foreign Affairs, the director of the peace and stabilization operations program, and th

Foreign Affairs committee  To have elections, there first has to be a political accord on the transition. Prime Minister Henry has one, but he needs more partners, to get to the next stage, appointing a provisional electoral council, or CEP. That is a body that has somewhat the same function as Elections C

Foreign Affairs committee  Yes, absolutely. I have had a lot of discussions with CARICOM partners and regional parties, not just in the last few weeks, but for a year. Canada is making a lot of effort to get more commitments from countries in the region. We can learn a lot from our partners in the region.

Foreign Affairs committee  Yes, I think there were that many. I would say it started in the last ten years. A history course could be taught on the use of violence in Haitian politics. We need only think of the Tonton Macoutes during Duvalier's time, or the "chimères", the ghosts, for example. The use of v

Foreign Affairs committee  In my opinion, that must be the absolute priority, so every effort has to be made to ensure that providing security assistance in Haiti is done as peacefully as possible.

Foreign Affairs committee  The gangs are heavily armed, in fact. The fact that all sorts of weapons and ammunition coming from the United States, in particular, are getting into Haiti is extremely problematic. Illegal arms trafficking takes place throughout the Caribbean and in Central America, not just

Foreign Affairs committee  Thank you for the question, Mr. Dubourg. I would like to take a moment to congratulate you on your statement in the House of Commons two weeks ago. It made quite an impression here in Haiti and we are all grateful. The embassy staff are doing well, in the circumstances. Obvious

Foreign Affairs committee  That is really more a question for a political scientist than the ambassador, but I will still try to answer it, without putting my foot in my mouth. I would say we have a relatively positive history in Haiti when it comes to doing a good job of balancing our involvement. Canada

Foreign Affairs committee  It is very difficult to measure, because we do not have many tools for doing surveys or organizing focus groups, as is done in Canada. First, I don't like the word "intervention"; I prefer "assistance". I think that is also what Haitians in general prefer, and it is certainly th

Foreign Affairs committee  Absolutely. It may be the missing ingredient. For several weeks, when we have talked about the possibility of an assistance mission, it has often been said that we have to avoid the errors of the past. You have heard this from Bob Rae, from Justin Trudeau and from Mélanie Joly.

Foreign Affairs committee  Yes, there are two resolutions. One has been adopted. That one is the sanctions resolution. We're 100% behind that. We worked really hard behind the scenes to make that happen, and we're glad it did. Then there's another resolution that's on the table this week, I believe, in N

Foreign Affairs committee  There's one individual who was actually named by the resolution, Jimmy Cherizier, a former police lieutenant. He's known as “Barbecue”. That's his gang name. He was specifically named by the UN Security Council. That doesn't really help, because this man is a criminal, of course,