The West Block: March 17, 20224 | Canada’s role supporting Haiti as violence engulfs Port-au-Prince

There’s a vast power vacuum in what is quickly becoming the failed state of Haiti can it be repaired I’m Mercedes Stevenson the West block Starts Now the fight to lead Haiti is now in the streets with the president stepping down it’s feared one massive gang could soon be effectively running the country

What’s Canada’s role in efforts to help secure the island nation we talk with Canada’s Ambassador on the ground in pora Prince and Canada’s ambassador to the United Nations violence and Chaos like this aren’t new for Haiti but this time the situation is actually quite different and it’s worse there’s no longer a

President after the interm leader was forced to resign after 2 years without elections and increasing gang violence he had replaced the previous president who was assassinated what few military and police are left in the country have turned from trying to quell violence between rival gangs some of which are as

Well-armed as small militaries to facing a new threat instead of fighting each other the gangs have joined together forming a criminal Alliance that plans on being a dominant force in the country the leader of the most powerful gang in the country a man named Jimmy barbecue

Shalu who used to be a police officer had a warning for those who plan to intervene the deteriorating security situation in the country’s capital means many Haitians are facing famine while flights can’t get in or out an embassy including Canada’s have evacuated much of their non-essential staff Canada’s

Ambassador to Haiti Andre franois jiru however is still in Portal Prince and he joins us now Ambassador welcome to the show thank you for making time for us my pleasure thank you for having me I imagine you are in the middle of of what is an extraordinarily chaotic violent

And dangerous situation on the ground can you describe to Canadians what is happening in Haiti right now and and what it’s like to be there well one thing that we have to keep in mind is that A’s been facing these three crisis humanitarian political and security for quite a few years now uh

When it comes to security uh so this has been ongoing but the reality is what we’ve seen these past few weeks is is is the gang instead of just you know creating Terror and pursuing their business model which has been traditionally to kidnap people to traffic drugs and and just uh you know

Ask people for for Security payment for security what we’ve seen is them uh working together coordinating and attacking targeting some of the key infrastructure the airport the port uh police commissariat as a response to all of this the police has been doing a trem tremendous job and it is has regained

Some control over the port is trying to rebuild a a security parameter around the airport but the re the reality is is the pnes is is not as as strong as it should be it needs to rebuild itself that’s why we we’ve been investing in in

In in in the panage assisting with them but uh you know this is the reality on the ground right now and and um obviously that creates a lot of uncertainty and and for that reason uh people are a little more nervous and and and need to be much more

Careful it is a very different situation to be talking about dealing with criminal gangs who who want to seize power used to dealing sometimes with very violent governments uh or extremists but this is a a bit of a unique situation can you explain to us

Who some of the key players are who are joining together to try to essentially I don’t know if I want to say seize power I’m not sure they’re looking to govern but they’re certainly looking to be the most powerful force in Haiti that are these extremely sophisticated gangs yes

Why you some people may ask why do we see the gangs working together now and not you know six months ago because they their motor ofendi has been more or less fighting each other for to control respective territories but the the re what prime minister de facto prime

Minister H was trying to do was trying to create the conditions for a multinational security Force to come and that’s not good news for the gangs as you can imagine so the gangs are very worried that and then right now what we’re seeing is is they’re trying to

Really um make make their territory even even stronger and try to prevent this multinational Force to come very opportunistically some uh political leaders have Associated themselves with the gangs and are for their own benefit trying to mobilize the gangs and say we’re gonna take power we’re gonna create security because we

Have this alliance with with the gangs and then if you put us in power we will run the country and and and restore security the Asians people are not fools they don’t want a a government a country run by by former criminals that are associated with gangs leader and I think

That most people would think that that certainly sounds like a better option but how do you install that when you don’t have quite literally the Firepower necessarily to back that against gangs who in some cases have been assessed at having near peer combat capabilities to parts of the Canadian

Military yes it it it is challenging Ing and and we expect that as this um government of national Unity uh forms itself The Gangs will do everything to make it uh fail and and create insecurity to prevent the the multinational security Force to come the the government that we’re Asians are

Trying to put together will have a key two two main mandate which will be to to create a a clear path towards elections and welcome the multinational security Force so yes the gang will continue to create insecurity the police is doing again a tremendous job um uh but it

Needs reinforcement and that’s why that multinational Mission uh needs to come uh as soon as possible we Canada over the um the past year year and a half we’ve identified this as a critical uh issue and that that’s why prime minister Trudeau a year ago announced a100 million just dedicated

To support the National Police uh in equipment training technical expertise in addition to that 100 million we’ve also mobilized the International Community Canada has supported Haiti verbally but when it’s come down to it uh when President Biden wanted Canada to lead the multinational force in Haiti we declined there has been deep concern

From the leadership of the Canadian Armed Forces and of the RCMP that the risk was simply too high the the Haitian police who were training were not even going to Haiti to train them or pulling them out to train them in a third party country because the risk was Associated

As being so high so it seems like Canada is saying all the right things but it seems like when there’s a risk to take on to actually get involved there’s hesitancy there do you think that’s true no I I think we we have to be realistic

About our our own capacity and then what we are doing is really uh playing on our strength uh being uh providing something that is definitely needed uh training in a tur country or training in at I think what what’s the most important here is is that the training goes on and then

There’s Merit to do it in a third location so that uh you know trainees can really focus on their training I can assure you that when the conditions are there we will be training in uh in doing training in poal PR as well but right

Now that was that was deemed to be more more um opportunistic I guess or more uh logistical but uh all to say that uh you know we are definitely um using our our own capacity and and expertise to really support where we can make a difference I know that uh a number of

Your staff have been pulled out because of concerns about security you have bravely stayed behind to try to assist Canadian citizens do you believe that you’re are going to be able to stay in the embassy or or do you think it’s likely that you’re going to have to

Evacuate essal essential staff um out of Haiti completely you know we we have to be ready for every eventuality but uh the last thing we want to do is is close our Embassy and and leave are you living in the embassy compound right now to to be

Able to stay safe I’m noticing the shutters closed behind you and I’m sure there’s a number of security precautions you have to take I won’t disclose my location but I I I I can assure you that I’m I’m well equipped uh I have water food uh and good security so

I’m not worried for my own personal safety I mean we have to be careful we we reduce our movements on the ground as much as we can uh but we are very much here operational and and we’re carrying on uh with the work that we have to do Ambassador the United States obviously

Has considerable military strength in the region both in terms of ability to intervene respond and potentially rescue their Embassy staff Canada does not have that same strength would you like to see military assets from the Canadian Armed Forces in the region or Special Forces deployed to the Embassy to help to

Protect you as I I had a chance to explain before we are making every contingency plan and and I take great uh comfort knowing that the US is is well tooled here as well and is a good Ally and and Miami is not too far but I would

Say for the time being uh we’re we’re definitely ready for every uh every U opportunity or every um occasion and and then we are uh as you can imagine coordinating very closely with all of our good allies in the region what advice do you have for Canadians who are

In Haiti right now I know they’ve been told to shelter in place but obviously this is an extremely dangerous and and stressful situation is the government of Canada able to offer them anything more than that well right now uh and then please keep in mind that our travel advisory for the

Last year and a half has been uh don’t come to it if you are in it uh it’s time to leave and and go back home so the people the Canadians that are here are are here because they know Del lay of the land they they know what to expect

So uh and I know they’re very resilient Our advice is shelter in place uh make sure that you have reserve of water food medicine like I do uh and don’t uh don’t uh move around unless you really have to certainly our wish for you too we know events don’t

Always comply with that but we thank you for joining us and we wish you the very best please stay safe and we appreciate your service thank you very much and for A View From Home here’s a quick listen of how some Haitian Canadians are feeling about the crisis I mean in the

Past month I’ve had members of the family been kidnapped so that’s been an ongoing uh situation now for the past I guess 7 eight years every day there somebody’s going to die or somebody won’t have food to eat because they cannot walk they cannot go to work their

Work probably have been burn out or their their house have been burned really don’t know what to tell them you know they are crying really crying on the phone say get me out of there as the situation on the ground deteriorates up next we talk about the options to get help in toah

Haiti croud to celebrate 50 years covering our communities global news we believe in a greater Toronto there have been many efforts to help p in the past but most have not gone well in 2004 the UN Force Minista was established and quickly known for rapes and extrajudicial killings in 2005

A massacre of Haitians by Brazilian soldiers working for the UN and in 2010 hai’s first cases of chera killed at least 10,000 after un peacekeepers arrived from Nepal where the disease is common and there are many more examples so how can the un help this time without repeating history’s mistakes Canada’s

Ambassador to the United Nations Bob Ray joins us now Ambassador nice to see you sir thank you for joining us nice to meet nice to see you again too Mercedes Good To Be With You Ambassador Ray what is the situation in terms of trying to secure the situation on the ground in

Haiti and and this external force that is still supposed to be coming in is that possible yes it’s possible sit the security situation is bad uh but it’s it’s it’s it can be remedied and I I personally know that the the Haitian National Police have been responding in

A in a remarkable way to protecting State institutions to pushing Back Against The Gangs but they simply don’t have enough uh equipment and enough enough ability to kind of get at it uh in in the major way that’s required and that’s why we believe the United Nations agrees that we need a multinational

Force which will which will begin to address the the the serious deficit that the Asian National Police fa at the present time but it can be done it it absolutely can be done we just have to get the political will the financial will uh and all the other things that

Are required to get it done and Canada is very committed to being part of that solution Ambassador Ray one of the reasons I always enjoy speaking with you is because you say things like they are and and you’re not afraid to really sort of speak truth to power it strikes me

When we look at hati this is a country that has been through terrible devastation terrible poverty terrible violence it is in in our hemisphere but we don’t talk about it very much we talk about supporting the government but Canada doesn’t want to lead the international Mission we don’t actually

Want to put RCMP or military on the ground in part because there’ be such a danger to our troops but that leads me to well we’ve allowed it to get that out of control why do you think that Haiti has been largely abandoned by the International Community and by North

America when it comes to making a serious effort at getting this country rebuilt and their security under control it do people just not care no actually I don’t think it’s about not caring I think it’s about struggling to find a way of supporting the people of Haiti um without supporting actors which frankly

Are corrupt and and not helping the situation and I think the challenge has always been that you know we come in with massive amounts of money if you look at what happened after 2010 and the experience after 2010 came in with a lot of money money spilled all

Over the place money was taken over by you know some of the ruling families of the country and immediately extorted went out to Miami or New York or Montreal or somewhere else and it wasn’t used for the benefit of the Haitian people and I think we’ve got to avoid

That kind of a production at all costs the other thing is is this is urban this is urban fighting this is a dealing with Urban gangs and we have to be quite specific and uh careful about making sure that we do everything possible to extract the kids out of the gangs and

There are countries that are going to be involved in doing this helping make this happen but I would like to kind of talk back a little bit to against your narrative on on abandon but nobody’s abandoned Haiti Haiti has received um billions tens of billions of dollars

From from countries in the last 25 30 years received a lot of money and not all that money has been put to good use and and I think we’d be deluding ourselves if we thought that wasn’t a problem so we have to strengthen hades’s institutions we have to require

Accountability we have to make sure money is going to where it’s needed how it’s needed and we have to make sure that it’s not just piled all piled on all of a sudden because we’ve got to deal with the long-term development needs of the country with an effective

Uh plan that’s really going to work and we are dealing with an unprecedented network of gangsters who are violent um who are very well-entrenched who are well armed uh and well equipped and it’s going to be a very tough struggle to to to bring them down so how do you operate

In that environment then if you’re dealing with these gangsters who there’s obviously questionable morality about engaging with them but they’re the guys who seem to have the power right now you have a government uh in name that’s trying to form but doesn’t have an ability to execute and a long history of

Rich politicians sucking money out of the country and redirecting it to their homes in Miami how do you come into that and and find a solution that isn’t just the International Community taking over and running things for a while or is is that something we should be looking at like

Post World War II in Japan no no I don’t think taking over we’ tried that before I mean frankley Mercedes that’s the model that we that we followed we fell into without really thinking about it and we can’t do that again that that’s a mistake uh we have to let the Haitian

Political institutions do the job we need more cooperation and one thing we do need and I have to say this uh very deliberately is we need greater effort from The Americans on the export of Arms from their country to Haiti we have to understand that the largest source of

Guns in Haiti and frankly in the Caribbean is the United States of America and we’ve talked to the Americans about this I’ve been very open in talking to to people about it and there has to be an effort to by the United States to reduce to reduce the

Export of arms the United the United Nations U resolution talked about that very directly and the the statement that was made by the security Council last week talked very directly about the importance of an arms embargo and which means that countries like Canada and the United States and the EU and others that

Have the means to actually enforce an embargo need to enforce the Embargo what is the consequence regionally and for Canada if we fail in Haiti well I mean the way I put it is this is there are two issues for me the first one is that

The SEC the security of any country is is only as strong as the weakest link and the security of any region is only as strong as the weakest link we have issues of crime in the Caribbean we have issues of insecurity we have um questions about you know how do we build

Stronger economies more resilient of economies um and we need to understand that when things really collapse in Haiti it has a a devastating impact on the region there’s also I think a need to recognize that uh we we have a neighbor who’s taken some very hard hits

Uh and the people are suffering badly and they they they’re hurting and so when people are hurting and are suffering we have a responsibility to respond and to be helpful but we also have a responsibility to do it right and to do it in a way that works for for

Them and also works for for us works for everybody we we know it’s not going to be easy but we are definitely not walking away from this situation Canada has stepped up in a number of ways and we’re going to continue to do it and U

Frankly I’m very proud of the fact that that over many decades we we have helped Ambassador Ray thank you so much for joining us today sir we appreciate it good to be with you take care up next preparing for a showdown over the planned carbon tax

Hike now for one last last thing prime minister Justin Trudeau will have to spend a fair chunk of this coming week defending the planned increase to his signature carbon tax which is scheduled to kick in on April 1st multiple conservative Premier from Alberta’s Danielle Smith to Ontario’s Doug Ford

Have called for a pause if they don’t start uh you know putting money back into people’s pockets instead of filling their pockets guess what uh they’re they’re uh they’re going to get annihilated as I said before they’re done done like dinner some of Mr Trudeau’s political allies though are supporting what those conservative

Premier are saying including New Finland and labrador’s liberal Premier Anthony Fury he’s encouraging the government to rethink the hike so far the pleas are falling on deaf ears Justin Trudeau has been categoric that there is no plan to slow down or stop and he says that those

Who are asking for such a thing are putting popularity over policy but my job is not to be popular my job although it helps uh my job my job is to do the right things for Canada now and do the right things for Canadians a generation from now and

That’s what I’ve been focused on and yeah it’s not always popular but I know that doing the right things today that support people today that deliver that better future a generation ation from now two generations from now is going to make a huge difference in the path we take

Forward but as April 1st draws closer in Canadian struggle with the cost of living the tax increase is an easy target for the federal conservatives who have a series of political Shenanigans plannned in the House of Commons to embarrass the Liberals over the increase and are holding rallies across the

Country a that taxs Mr Trudeau’s justifications and explanations ranging from principled environmentalism to the argument that the rebate puts money back in the pockets of Canadians have failed to convince people that this is a good idea so will Mr trudo revisit his insistence that the hike has to go ahead

Well that might in part depend on whether he’s starting to think about his legacy as prime minister versus his chances of reelection thanks for joining us so much this week and we’ll see you right back here next Sunday

The crisis in Haiti continues to grow more and more precarious following the rise in gang violence and the resignation of Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry. ‘The West Block’ host Mercedes Stephenson speaks with Canadian Ambassador to Haiti André François Giroux about the situation on the ground, preparations for a possible evacuation, and the role Canada can play in resolving the crisis.

Plus, Stephenson is joined by Bob Rae, Canadian Ambassador to the United Nations (UN), who discusses the international response, the flow of illegal U.S. weapons to Haitian gangs, and more.

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