Foreign Affairs committee  There are a lot of allegations out there. I think those need to be looked at carefully and be evaluated. I think you're correct that the Government of Canada, along with a group of other countries, supported Ariel Henry last summer. I would just say that the sitting president, Jo

Foreign Affairs committee  I would argue that they have a very big voice, maybe more outside of Haiti than in Haiti. They do represent a vast coalition of civil society organizations, some of which are very important. They clearly have a seat at the table. We think they need to be part of the solution. The

Foreign Affairs committee  I don't think the country can afford to itself the luxury of a sustained political crisis. I think everyone needs to get together. I think that includes Ariel Henry, and that certainly includes the Montana group.

Foreign Affairs committee  Thank you for the question. The expectations are fairly high, I would say. I think we all saw the media coverage of the visit by Secretary Blinken to Ottawa and some of the articles before and during the visit. Indeed, people expect Canada to take on a leadership role. We have

Foreign Affairs committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. I am going to try to keep my opening remarks as brief as possible, to encourage discussion. Haiti has had chronic political problems for many years. The situation was exacerbated by the assassination of President Moïse in July 2021, which created a constit

Foreign Affairs committee  Specifically on the diaspora, I grew up in Montreal surrounded by Haitians. I have a Haitian uncle, a Haitian best friend, even a Haitian father-in-law at some point; all that to say that one thing we can say about our Haitian diaspora is that they're not shy. They reach out dire

Foreign Affairs committee  What I would say is that there's a lot of fatigue out there amongst the population with the political process. Some Haitian friends are even telling me in private, “Let them all go and we'll just manage this ourselves.” That's how much people are fed up. There's a real sense of

Foreign Affairs committee  I think I was done.

Foreign Affairs committee  Specifically on food security, to answer the member's question, the World Food Programme is working on a program that's called school canteens, cantines scolaires in French. They were feeding upwards of three-quarters of a million of kids every day. There is also a component of

Foreign Affairs committee  I have about 30 seconds, so I think maybe a written response on the specifics of that project would be in order. That's only to say I visit projects. I can see, myself, through field visits, the aid actually getting delivered and being used to help Haitians, Haitian women in th

Foreign Affairs committee  With that specific $50 million that was announced two weeks ago, some of those projects were already in the pipeline. Some are just starting now.

Foreign Affairs committee  It's an excellent question. Beyond the security situation, there's a vast debate in the country amongst political scientists and constitutional experts who are asking themselves, should you have a referendum to reform the constitution if you're not elected with a mandate to chan

Foreign Affairs committee  Indeed, Canada's solidarity with the Haitian people is unwavering. You have described it well. I would also say that beyond development aid, there are what my colleagues call “pockets of excellence” in this country, that is to say, economic projects that work very well without i

Foreign Affairs committee  We believe that in the current situation, especially for security reasons, it would be extremely difficult to hold elections in Haiti. As to whether elections should be held by the end of the year or in two years' time, these are matters of domestic politics on which I do not wa

Foreign Affairs committee  The three main ones are the September 11 agreement, which is Prime Minister Ariel Henry's agreement; there is the Montana Accord, which, as I mentioned before, has been much talked about in the United States; and there is the PEN agreement, an initiative of Senate President Josep