The large Haitian diaspora in Quebec has been plunged into worry for a week, due to the precarious humanitarian situation in the country. In the capital, Port-au-Prince, police are confronting armed gangs who are attacking courts and hospitals, in addition to blocking roads leading to the rest of the territory.
There are no words to describe what the population is experiencing at the moment, says Sandra Rabrun, who left Haiti in 2013 to settle in Quebec. “I spoke to a friend who spent the night with her children under the bed. The next morning, she found bullet casings in the living room. These people are not numbers, they are the ones with whom we ate, slept, laughed, cried and grew up,” tells the Duty the 43 year old woman.
Mme Rabrun deplores the fact that these residents are forced to endure the recent outbreak of violence taking place in the capital. These disruptions also led the government to declare a state of emergency on March 3. Armed gangs have stormed strategic sites, including police stations and prisons, demanding the departure of Prime Minister Ariel Henry.
Part of the population is also calling for the resignation of the leader who is currently outside the Caribbean country and who would be unable to return. He had traveled to Kenya to try to advance a UN-backed security mission in Haiti.
Mr. Henry came to power in 2021, after the assassination of Jovenel Moïse, then the country’s president. Since then, a political, security and humanitarian crisis has raged in Haiti, which has not seen any elections since 2016.
Horrified and discouraged
In recent days, the approximately 150,000 members of the Haitian diaspora in Quebec are worried about their loved ones still in the country, underlines Marjorie Villefranche, general director of Maison d’Haïti in Montreal. “We are both discouraged and horrified. Then at the same time, we don’t understand what’s happening. »
Residents of the capital risk their lives by going out to buy food, details Mme Villefranche. “It’s like war,” says the woman who has been at the head of the organization since 2010.
Currently, the Port-au-Prince region is facing a “catastrophic scenario,” says François Audet, director of the Montreal Institute of International Studies at UQAM. “Port and airport access routes are blocked [par les bandes armées], which makes the arrival of outside help impossible. »
A food crisis could therefore be added to the picture if the situation does not change soon, maintains Mr. Audet.
UN representatives in Haiti also say they are concerned about the fate of the 3,000 pregnant women in the metropolitan region of Port-au-Prince. Due to the hospitals being attacked, “they risk not being able to benefit from essential health care,” they warned in a press release.
Nearly 450 of them could also suffer from “potentially fatal obstetric complications without qualified medical assistance”, they warned.
Be part of the solution
Faced with this situation, the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) will meet this Monday in Jamaica with representatives of the United States, France, Canada and the UN.
According to Sandra Rabrun, it is however essential that the Haitian diaspora be involved in decision-making concerning the future of the country. “We want to be at this table to discuss sustainable solutions. »
“It is not a question of supporting Haiti like a child who is being taught lessons, but rather like an adult who is being helped to take charge of themselves. We have the potential to take charge of ourselves, but we have to do it well,” says the woman who works in particular on the development of various organizations.
It is necessary to act, says Sandra Rabrun, because Haitians live in uncertainty on a daily basis. “Last Saturday, I was talking with a friend with whom I studied. He told me: “Every evening, we tell ourselves that we managed to get through the day, but that we don’t know about tomorrow.” We are truly entrusted to providence. And it’s a shame, because the future of a people cannot be built like that. »
John Miller Beauvoir, a Montreal political scientist, says he feels powerless as a member of the Haitian diaspora. “We are watching our country disintegrate with thousands and thousands of people displaced. But there is no response from the State or an effective response from the international community. It’s a global failure to help Haiti,” he adds.
With Agence France-Presse