Is Haiti a Canadian Colony

Foreign Affairs is getting short shrift this election being focused mainly on what Tweedledee Martin and Tweedledum Harper said about the Iraq war. We at least know the NDP opposed it from the begining. Thats a given. So lets move on to something more important and less well discussed.

A subject so touchy with the Liberal government that it got a Martin heckler arrested and jailed in Halifax. The heckler was author and film maker, Yves Engler, a member of the Canada Haiti Action Network who has documented UN and Canadian abuses of civilians in Haiti.

It's the Ugly Canadian news story that is buried in the back pages of the Canadian Press. Now why might that be? After all we went into Haiti at the request of the UN and Americans to help those poor people under the horrible democratically elected government of Aristide. Or did we?

Ecuador's New Canadian Ambassador Helped Plan Haiti Coup

Christian Lapointe helped co-ordinate and attended the meeting, as did future (and present) Ambassador to Haiti Claude Boucher, who is known to be close to elements within the elite Group of 184 political opposition to Lavalas and is virulently anti-Aristide.

Documents obtained via Canada's Access to Information Act reveal that Lapointe was in on key high-level deliberations that may have involved the topic of Haiti's regime change. Lapointe himself may have censored the portions of these documents that could prove the international community's plans to overthrow the government of Jean Bertrand Aristide more than one year before the regime change took place. According to an officer within the Department of Foreign Affairs Access to Information and Privacy division, Lapointe was the final person through which the Ottawa Initiative on Haiti documents had to pass prior to being released. Another officer referred to approximately 1,000 pages pertaining to the Ottawa Initiative on Haiti meeting. Only 67 pages were released.

Montreal has a huge and influential Haitian community, largest probably in North America. The Canadian government announced its first woman of colour as GG and she too is Haitian. What did this signal to Haitians in Canada and in Haiti?

Gildan the worlds number two T shirt manufacturer is located in Montreal but offshores its production to the caribbean. Recently found to be using sweat shops in these regions, it was given a clean bill of health by Anti Sweat Shop campaigns.
Except that it has now reduced production in those plants and expanded its operations in Haiti with no anti-sweat shop vigilance.

The Canadian Corporate/State Nexus In Haiti by Anthony Fenton

Haiti's de facto government will soon announce the appointment of Robert Tippenhauer as its new ambassador to Canada. Previously, Tippenhauer was the President of the first-ever Haitian-Canadian Chamber of Commerce. He says he will be arriving in Canada shortly after the early June visit to Haiti of Quebec Premier Jean Charest. Should the Canadian government accept Tippenhauer's credentials, it will mark Canada's clearest official alignment with Haiti's right-wing elites.

Of the many reconstruction projects that are being created, Tippenhauer feels that "considering the active role that Canada is playing with their lead role in the transition, Canadian firms should have a first look at these projects." On Canada's leadership role, Tippenhauer made the point that Canada had "one the most active ambassadors here." Tippenhauer further lauded Canada's "constant interest in Haiti," stating "the mere presence of these officials is good for us."

Some of the incentives offered to companies like SNC, and Gildan Activewear, who Tippenhauer estimates employ 5,000 people between their independent factory (which is next to Tippenhauer's Dollar Rent-a-Car) and Andy Apaid's factories; Apaid has been Gildan's primary subcontractor in Haiti for many years, according to a Gildan spokesperson.

Is Haiti Canada's new colony, and in reality are we her Imperial master. Turning a blind eye to Canadian war crimes in Haiti.Were we really invited into Haiti as part of a coalition or did we actually mastermind the whole thing. Inquirying minds want to know, and the evidence is piling up that Haiti is a Canadian Colony. That the Liberal Government was off the hook in Iraq because we had our own little coup de dat to run in Haiti.

Canada in Haiti: Considering the 3-D Approach. November 3-4 2005
Waterloo, Ontario The second half of the conference title – “Considering the 3-D Approach” – is a direct reference to the Canadian government’s 2005 International Policy Statement (IPS), which advocates a three-pronged strategy to Canadian involvement in Canada in Haiti: that blends Canada’s diplomatic, defence and development presence in order to form a coordinated engagement

A Tip o' the Blog to Greg Farrants who has been doing exemplar work around Solidarity with Haiti both in Redmonton and across Canada.

And a tip o' the blog to Lazylafargue.

There is currently circulating a letter to condemn the political detentions in Haiti, and the detention of AI "Prisoner of Conscience" Father Jean-Juste in particular. It is addressed to Jack Layton, of the NDP you can forward your own copy to Jack . While the original focus of this letter was to get Haiti mentioned in last weeks debates there are still two more debate coming up.

Haiti: The Liberals' Untold Scandal

For the people of Haiti, all of this has meant a return to conditions reminiscent of the years of military dictatorship. Haitian Police routinely conduct deadly raids within the poorest neighborhoods, shooting scores of civilians and Aristide sympathizers. According to the Catholic Peace and Justice Commission, over 700 political prisoners fill Haiti’s jails, including catholic priest Father Gerard Jean-Juste, deemed a “prisoner of conscience” by Amnesty International. Jean-Juste was barred from running in Haiti’s upcoming Presidential elections due to his imprisonment.

Meanwhile, Foreign Affairs Minister Pierre Pettigrew has referred to reports of such abuses as “propaganda,” while Paul Martin has publicly stated that “there are no political prisoners in Haiti.”

Unlike the Gomery Inquiry, the Liberal scandal in Haiti has cost perhaps thousands of lives. Why, then, has it been left completely off of the political radar of these elections?