(OTTAWA) Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is due to fly early Wednesday afternoon to the Bahamas, where members of the ‘Caribbean Community’ will meet to discuss regional issues, including the deepening crisis. in Haiti.
Mr. Trudeau is participating as a special guest at the summit of 20 Caribbean leaders, in Nassau, on the occasion of the 44e Ordinary meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), which this year celebrates its 50e anniversary.
The Prime Minister’s Office explains that this trip will allow leaders to consider political, security and humanitarian assistance to the Haitian people and “Haitian-led solutions to the current situation”.
This country has been plunged into a serious crisis since the assassination, in July 2021, of Prime Minister Jovenel Moïse. Violent criminal gangs are vying for territory in the capital, Port-au-Prince, and international bodies are reporting rampant sexual assaults, kidnappings and a worsening health emergency.
Haiti’s unelected prime minister Ariel Henry, who is expected to attend the Nassau meeting, has called for foreign military intervention; the United States suggested that it be led by Canada. But the Canadian government instead seeks “consensus” on the ground and favors the imposition of economic sanctions against elites accused of supporting the activities of criminal gangs.
Trudeau said Wednesday morning in Ottawa that Caribbean nations have a role to play in legitimizing international aid to the Haitian people.
“For too many decades, there was a perception that it was the North, the more colonial countries that were trying to resolve the situation in Haiti, without much success,” explained the Prime Minister. I think we recognize how the Haitian people must be at the center of everything they are doing now. And neighboring Caribbean countries are going to have an important role to play,” he said.
Mr. Trudeau would like the Caribbean countries to be partners in “standing up against the dozen families in Haiti who have been responsible for the instability and violence for many years”.
Free elections
The host of the Nassau summit, Prime Minister of the Bahamas, Philip Davis, said Tuesday in a press conference that discussing Haiti would obviously be a priority, and he urged countries like Canada and the United States to bring their help.
“We don’t have the resources to solve the Haiti problem ourselves and we need outside help,” he said. What we seek to do is stabilize the country sufficiently to allow free and fair elections, and the challenge lies in the path to achieving this. »
Prime Minister Davis stressed that the Bahamas would be willing to contribute personnel to a security mission if needed, after Jamaica said earlier this month it was ready to join a possible multilateral force.
Stephen Baranyi, a professor of international development at the University of Ottawa, said Ottawa sees a full-fledged military mission as a “last resort” option.
The best-case scenario, he said, would be for Haitians to come together in a political dialogue that leads to free and fair elections later this year.
But the idea of sending a specialized, time-limited force to help Haitian police, or sending a larger military force, is increasingly debated. And Canada could play a leading role in such an effort, if it finds partners, Professor Baranyi said.
“He cannot go there alone: Canada needs the support and participation of Caribbean countries, French-speaking African countries,” he said.
A “Haitian consensus” first
Emmanuel Dubourg, the only Canadian federal deputy of Haitian origin, ensures that his government leaves nothing aside. “We are doing our best to obtain this consensus in order to have a diplomatic solution,” said the Liberal MP for Bourassa, in the northeast of Montreal.
“But we also heard that the national police were not sufficiently armed and that the situation was really difficult there. So we discuss all types of options to help people in Haiti. »
MP Dubourg added that a discussion on Haiti will be part of the talks Prime Minister Trudeau and the President of the United States will have next month when Joe Biden makes an official visit to Canada.
An American delegation must also attend the summit in Nassau, led by the American deputy secretary of state.
On Tuesday, Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino assured Canada would continue to work with the United States and other allies to help improve the situation on the ground. New Democratic Party (NDP) Leader Jagmeet Singh thinks it’s important to work with the Haitian people on a way forward rather than imposing a solution as a foreign country.
More than two million Canadians travel each year to the countries represented by CARICOM, and Canada’s trade with these countries totaled nearly $6 billion in 2021.
Climate change should also be a major topic at the Nassau summit. Most CARICOM members are island nations that are expected to suffer disproportionately from the negative impacts of global warming and sea level rise.
Some small Caribbean islands have literally disappeared over the past decade, Professor Baranyi said. This is a “wake-up call” for the international community, he said, and for developed countries like Canada that have contributed far more to the problem.
“We have a special responsibility to foot part of the bill,” he said, adding that a discussion of how countries plan to meet UN climate targets is likely to be in order. of the day.
Prime Minister Trudeau is expected to return to Ottawa late Thursday evening.