(Ottawa) A Quebecer who is currently in Haiti and who dangles positions in Quebec health institutions with local nurses – even if there is no recruitment program – is in the crosshairs of the Embassy of Canada in Port-au-Prince.
” Warning ! “, We alerted last Friday on the Embassy’s Twitter account.
“Please note that Canada and Quebec are not recruiting nurses in Haiti at this time. Beware of scams. Unfortunately, fraudulent job offers to go to Canada are increasing every day, ”it was added.
The Canadian mission in Haiti did not provide further details on the ongoing scam.
On the other hand, at Global Affairs Canada, Sunday noon, it was reported in an email to Press that a “private citizen claimed to recruit Haitian citizens to work in Canada as health professionals.”
Thus, on learning of this campaign, the Embassy of Canada in Haiti “immediately began an information campaign to counter this disinformation”, it was added.
The Quebec government has launched an international campaign to attract thousands of health care workers, mostly nurses, to address the labor shortage in the sector. The recruitment effort is targeting France, Belgium and the Maghreb countries, among others, but not Haiti.
In the office of the new Minister of Immigration, Jean Boulet, it was also stressed, Sunday evening, that “the recruitment of nurses internationally [était] a responsibility of the Ministry of Health and Social Services ”.
A “citizen” approach
The man at the heart of this story is Pierre Côté, who appears as a journalist, among others, and who has a certain notoriety in Haiti, having notably been communications advisor to former Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe.
PHOTO GABRIEL DELISLE, THE NEWIST ARCHIVES
Pierre Côté had withdrawn from the race for mayor of Trois-Rivières
In the wake of the warning from the embassy, he posted a video on Twitter in which he pleads that his initiative is his, and he insists that the governments of Canada and Quebec “do not recruit Haitian nurses presently ”.
“This approach is a citizen action which aims to alleviate suffering both in Haiti and in Quebec”, is it written in the message topping the video of the one who ran for mayor of Trois-Rivières in 2021 before withdrawing , for lack of sufficient support.
On November 26, Mr. Côté posted on the Facebook page of the organization “The Radical Transparency”, of which he says he is the founder, a registration form “for Haitian nurses interested in working in Canada in 2022”.
It asks a series of questions, in particular on education, years of experience, vaccination status. In the comments below the post, we read both “I’m interested” and “scam”.
The deceptive form was still online Sunday night.
In an exchange of texts with PressSunday evening, Pierre Côté swears that he received no compensation in exchange for his services as a so-called immigration facilitator in Canada.
“No,” he replied.
Le Trifluvien has set itself the goal of “mobilizing 250 nurses” before its return home, scheduled for mid-December. Until then, he is staying at the chic Marriott Port-au-Prince, where he has had a room since his arrival last October, according to our information.
To sell dreams
The situation is extremely unstable in Haiti.
In addition to blocking the country’s fuel supply for several weeks and ruling the streets of the capital, street gangs are increasing kidnappings, spreading fear among the population.
People with whom Press exchanged within the framework of this report accuse Mr. Côté of selling dreams to people who are in misery and who would gladly leave everything behind to get to Canada.
“I am not selling anything. I am only making the link between Haiti and Canada “, strummed the main interested party, who claims to have a list of 286 potential nurses and who does not understand why the embassy spoke of his initiative as a” scam “.
The warning was nevertheless relayed in several Haitian media. “Scam attempts are on the increase in recent days,” we wrote in the Haiti Gazette, last Friday. Haitians get ripped off for a variety of reasons. ”
With the collaboration of Vincent Larouche, Press