6-01-05, 9:22am
As federal elections in Canada become more likely, it is timely to turn our attention to the role played by Canada, along with the United States and France, in Haiti’s deteriorating political and economic situation. Since 2000, the Canadian government has suggested in various forums that Haiti be put in trusteeship. On March 15, 2003, the magazine L'Actualité published an article by Michel Vastel in which the overthrow of Jean-Bertrand Aristide's government was proposed, not by the Haitian opposition, but by a coalition of countries convened by Canada.
In April 2003, in an interview given while he was in the Dominican Republic, Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chrétien declared that the “international community” should not have to wake up with Aristide in power on January 1, 2004, Haiti’s bicentennial.
In Montreal, shortly before Aristide's kidnapping, the current international affairs minister Pierre Pettigrew met Paul Arcelin, an opposition representative, a close associate of “rebel” chief Guy Philippe, and a mastermind of the coup d'état.
Meanwhile, Denis Coderre, Prime Minister Paul Martin’s special counselor for Haiti, was part of the delegation of « last chance, » charged with presenting an exit plan to the crisis which peaked in February 2004. This mission did not put pressure on the opposition, which refused the plan, but on Aristide, who accepted it.
Finally, when the coup happened, Prime Minister Martin was at UN headquarters in New York and quickly accepted Aristide’s resignation, without knowing its circumstances.
If Paul Martin’s liberal government is sincere about wanting to help Haiti, it must unite Haitians in Canada around a project aimed at a viable and sustainable solution for Haiti. It must cease its politics of “divide and conquer,” which is bad and counter-productive for Haiti. Canada’s Haitians and friends of the Haitian people must remember: O Canada…Je me souviens.
--The author is a member of the Quebecois Committee to Recognize the Rights of Haitian Workers in the Dominican Republic, based in Montréal.
