Stabilizing Haiti is in Canada’s interests: UN Ambassador Bob Rae | Power Play with Vassy Kapelos

This country’s ambassador to the UN Bob Ray was at that emergency meeting in Jamaica and has just returned to New York which is where he joins us from hi Ambassador Ray pleasure to welcome you back to the show thanks for making the time thank you very much fing

How significant Ambassador is it in your view that the Prime Minister says he will resign I think well I think he concluded that um the political consensus required him to make way for U for his successor whoever that will be um and I I feel frankly I know him

Well I feel badly for him but I think that that was his conclusion and I think based on all the discussions that we had leading up to this meeting um yesterday that U that was I was not shocked to hear that but I also want to make it

Very clear that I was not um one of those people who felt you know he that he had to go and I had to tell him that he had to go because that was my view was that’s not my decision that’s a decision for him and for the for the

Political actors and for the people of Haiti um we’ll have to see now whether the parties are willing to take up the challenge of uh really taking on this transition process and really rolling up their sleeves and getting to it and U we had a very long discussion about God G

Question last night and they all said yes they would and they would participate in it and they were eager to get at it and we said well that’s what you got to do and in the most difficult of circumstances as you know what is your uh sense your level of faith that

That will be the case uh you I don’t what to say you got to believe I mean it it is a qu we’ve got to try just about anything to to get us to a point where we have a basis for more stability in Haiti uh I

Think everyone I have spoken to says that you’ve got to have a wider consensus uh and that having such a degree of a gap um between the the people and the politicians uh in a time of such a extraordinary epidemic of criminality that we’re seeing now in uh in Haiti when that happens

Something’s got to give so let’s hope something gives and there are a lot of very talented people um in the country and I I do believe that the people of AD have the ability to get out of this thing but it’s it’s going to take a lot

Of work and and that’s what that’s what what we’re up against right now what is at stake if it doesn’t work well I mean if this doesn’t work then you try something else but I mean the reality is this is this is is the the best option now that we were able

The the eminent persons group from the Caribbean was able to come up with and we supported them in that process we were obviously involved and consulted during the whole process and um the Prime Minister was you know our prime minister was very much um in the loop as

To you know what was going on um and we’ve been at this for quite a while I mean it’s we’ve been at this for over a year just in terms of trying to create the conditions that will allow for a serious transition process and then uh

Elections um and uh it’s taken too long and my opinion but there it is it’s not my calendar so they they run this but if it you got to know that everything’s at stake here in terms of the stability of Haiti and the Safety and Security of

Their people and everyone who says to me well it couldn’t get much worse than this and say still can I mean absolutely it could it be you know all the things that happen when completely fall apart um that’s what can happen um and there you’ve got to establish order and

Stability uh and then continue with the development process and and move to elections that’s that’s what has to happen uh but if country the people decide they don’t want to do that or they can’t agree as to how to do that that’s going to be a serious challenge

For for them and frankly for all of us well yeah that’s kind of why I was asking about what’s at stake and I I’ll sort of uh give you a bit more of an idea of why I host a radio show and I was covering this today with the

Ambassador to Haiti cada’s Ambassador I was getting a lot of you know pH calls in and text messages from people who were you know maybe questioning what you or other diplomats might take for granted like what why is it necessary for international um you know concern SL potentially intervention SL why is

Everyone getting to what what makes this such an emergency I think obviously understand it’s chaos it’s turmoil but why should in your view Canadians care what are the stakes well you know I think that’s a question that that actually um I think is essential and um I I have a lot of

Respect for the Canadian public and public opinion and I think it’s a question we all have to answer and I think there’s basically two things that are on my mind the most about this and I’m still thinking about the answer to the question because I think it’s a big

One the first one has to do with security and it has to do with the fact that Haiti is in our neighborhood and that degree of violence and that degree of crime and criminality in the region in Haiti and around Haiti eventually comes to us as a problem and

We need to understand that that you know why are people moving around Latin America and heading toward boards borders and trying to move off from where they are because they’re not safe because they they don’t feel they can make a living where they are and they

Are bound to feel they have to they have to move so it’s in our self-interest to create stable sustainable Democratic places to help that make that happen but the first thing is stable uh and You’ got to look at this question of of order is something that having a whole bunch of

Disorder uh in our neighborhood is a bad idea and we can’t turn away from it and we can’t say that’s too far away we don’t really care you know these people are you know doing these terrible things and why should we care about it well the answer is because it’ll it’ll come it’ll

It’ll hurt us eventually if we don’t that’s the first one but the second one is I don’t know about you but if if I see somebody who’s in deep trouble in deep crisis when I’m walking down the street I don’t just sort of I’m not one

Of those people who says oh turn away somebody else will take care of that don’t worry about it not my job nothing to look at here let’s just keep moving I don’t think we can afford to Walk On By when people are suffering as much as

That and that’s true for Haiti and it’s true for frankly the world we we do respond because we’re human beings and because we care about what happens to other people now it doesn’t mean that they don’t have a responsibility to care for themselves but I think if I may say

So uh bash I think there’s a reason why you’re getting those calls and I think the reason is because there are political forces all over the world that are telling people it’s time to stop caring and it’s time to stop worrying about what’s happening to other people

And that is that is now coming to Canada and so we those people like me who think differently have got to be prepared with really good arguments as to why that’s really not very smart it’s not very wise to think that way and why it’s really important for us to worry about

What happens and not just to worry but to try to do something about it you don’t just rush in and say I’m going to solve your problems don’t worry about it but you do say let’s let’s figure out what’s causing this and let’s try to get

At it because we can’t afford to be negligent in looking at these crises that are happening all around the world um I just have 30 seconds seconds left unfortunately I I just wanted to conclude with a logistical question for you if you don’t mind because the Ambassador yesterday said that they were

Uh they felt safe they were staying there unlike you know some of their counterparts in the US and the EU which were Evac who were evacuated pardon me over the weekend but they were planning for any eventuality and I just wanted to ask you Ambassador if Canada has the

Capacity to evacuate them from a military perspective even if if that point does arise um I am told we do okay all I can tell you that’s something we’re thinking obviously thinking about but not in a way that is a response to panic um our ambassador there is doing a

Great job Ambassador Yu he’s a great guy and really working hard and um I I think he’s got a good judgment as to what’s happening on the ground okay Ambassador I’ll leave it on that note thank you so much for your time this evening thank you good to talk to you

Canadian Ambassador to the UN Bob Rae discusses what the road ahead looks like for Haiti after the country’s PM resigns amid civil unrest.

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