This past summer, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty announced Canada was forgiving Haiti $2.3 million in debt.
"(This) announcement frees up valuable financial resources that can be better spent on Haiti's priorities, not its liabilities," he said.
It was a rare public acknowledgment of the Canadian government's financial commitments in Haiti. And the amount mentioned is a fraction of the money Canada is spending in aid to the tiny Caribbean country. In fact, Haiti will have absorbed more than half a billion dollars in Canadian aid money between 2006 and 2011. But few Canadians realize how much of a priority Haiti has become.
"Compared to Afghanistan, there's been too little media attention and too little parliamentary attention" on Haiti, says Stephen Baranyi, a professor in the school of international development and global studies at the University of Ottawa.
Outside government circles, few people are aware of the work Canada is doing in Haiti, says Carlo Dade, executive director of the Canadian Foundation for the Americas (FOCAL). "Without us, a lot of children wouldn't get fed every day."
Without Canada, there are a lot of things that wouldn't get done.
Brazil, the U.S. and other countries in the Americas are also benefactors to the troubled island nation.
Last week, in a status report on the country, the UN Security Council expressed "cautious optimism." Former U.S. president Bill Clinton, a UN envoy, said, "I am convinced that Haiti has a remarkable opportunity to escape the chains of its past."
Everyone interviewed about security, aid and development work in Haiti agrees on one thing. Asked what the country needs most, their response was unanimous and emphatic: "Everything."
Haiti is the poorest country in the western hemisphere. Its population is just more than nine million, crammed into an area roughly one-third the size of New Brunswick. Per capita GDP was only $1,300 U.S. last year (Canada's was $39,300 U.S.). Eighty per cent of Haitians live below the poverty line, more than two-thirds of the population don't have a formal job, and just more than 52 per cent can read. Without proper sanitation, infectious disease rates are high. Food is so scarce there were riots in 2008 when prices rose.
While it was once rich, that wealth was built on the backs of slaves. The French who colonized Haiti brought in nearly half a million slaves, who overthrew them in a revolt in 1804.
Two hundred years later, Haitians are still waiting for stable, democratic government.
Haiti is perched on the western third of Hispaniola Island, which it shares with the Dominican Republic. When planes fly over, passengers can see the border: the Dominican side is lush and green, while the Haitian side is dull and brown. Rampant deforestation — to make charcoal so people can cook without electricity — worsens the natural disasters that hit the island every year, allowing flooding and landslides to flow unabated. In 2008, for example, four hurricanes killed 800 people, left thousands homeless and caused $1 billion in damage.
Canada alone pledged more than $14 million to help with disaster relief from 2001 to 2015, part of the $555 million allocated to the country between 2006 and 2011. That makes Haiti Canada's second-largest aid recipient, just after Afghanistan. The only country that receives more financial aid is the one to which Canada has committed a large part of its Armed Forces.
In Haiti, the amount of money committed seems to far outweigh the number of personnel. Although there are 9,000 peacekeepers there as part of MINUSTAH, the UN mission in Haiti, it is Brazil that commands the force. Canada supplies four officers, plus 87 police officers to train the Haitian National Police and eight corrections workers to mentor justice system workers. All this despite having no obvious security issues in the country and no historic link. International aid experts say that this is exactly why it's important that Canada is involved.
"Canada is by far the most welcome in the country because you're not tainted by history," says Paul Collier, an Oxford University economics professor, author of The Bottom Billion and a report on Haiti to UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon. "So you've got a very important leadership role. The Haitian government in a way, sort of trusts you more, and is comfortable in a way it's not comfortable with the others."
Working in Haiti fits with the Conservative government's "three-pillars" approach to aid — security, democratic governance and eventual prosperity, says Peter Kent, minister of state of foreign affairs. Kent's portfolio is limited to the Americas, demonstrating the emphasis the government is putting on the western hemisphere.
Plus, notes the minister in charge of international aid, an unstable Haiti could destabilize the region.
If you look at its history, it certainly has been tumultuous," says Bev Oda. "If you look at the commitment of the Americas . . . the Americans, Brazil . . . in fact, even Mexico is contributing because we see that stability in the entire hemisphere has to be addressed."
Baranyi says there are three other reasons Canada has an interest in the country:
- Haiti had become a transit point for cocaine shipments to North America from South America.
- Federal politicians see the Haitian diaspora in Montreal — where 90 per cent of Haitian-Canadians live — as an important voting bloc.
- It's a way for Canada to appease the U.S. after not sending troops to Iraq in 2003.
Canada was "looking for ways to rebuild those burnt bridges," says Baranyi. "Also to try to take a different approach, which Uncle Sam under the Bush administration might have been inclined to take unilaterally."
Baranyi, an expert on aid in Haiti, says Canada puts its money where its mouth is on national ownership. "Canada's actually funded, through a few fairly small projects, attempts to really build the Haitian state's core state institutions, capacity to plan and implement and monitor, and so on," he says.
"Very few other donors do this."
Kent says the "whole of government approach" — a phrase the former journalist dislikes — is necessary because so many things in Haiti have failed. "We've got to focus on security, we've got to look at providing basic services, infrastructure, electricity, clean water, adequate access to food, we've got to reinforce the fledgling, re-emerging institutions of government."
Oda emphasized that CIDA is working with the Haitian government, particularly Haitian Prime Minister Michele Pierre-Louis, to set objectives, pointing to a Canadian focus on vocational training and skills intended to increase human capital. CIDA is also "looking at doing some work in education, economic growth and food security."
At the same time, there's still a need for small, tangible community-based projects. "I know the result I can get immediately in small farming from raising goats, chicken, cattle, in a six-month basis," says Eric Faustin, director general of ROCAHD, a CIDA-funded group of Haitian-Canadian organizations that supports development work. "When we give to a 'paysan' 12 chickens, we know in a three-month basis they're going to have another $300."
Baranyi speaks highly of some of the projects CIDA funds directly. He says it could build public confidence in the programs it runs if it were more transparent.
"CIDA is being very ungenerous with the information that it's providing to the public," he says. "Basics like the details of these projects, and of disbursements and results. The results are being produced but they're being produced really late.
"It's really, really hard to know what the outcomes of some of these more recent investments have been."
Although the global recession has brought concerns of donor fatigue, Haiti's donors recommitted at an April conference in Washington, D.C., where the U.S. increased its contribution. Haiti lacks the religious or ethnic fighting that makes other fragile states delicate, and the Caribbean is a relatively prosperous area. The sense is it's at a turning point. The priority is to attract investment, part of Clinton's mandate as UN envoy.
"The time is ripe right now to support, massively, development in Haiti," says Faustin. "Otherwise, we could even lose the asset that we have built in getting more security, more stability in Haiti."
But Kent says it's been frustrating to deal with the Haitians, led by President Rene Preval. Kent says the government is afraid of "sticking their necks out.
"We also have to convince the government to lead, not to sit in power and let the foreign agencies, NGOs and security services do all the work," he says, calling Haiti's reliance on NGO leadership "a fairly common complaint."
"There were frustrations voiced (at the April donors conference) that Haitian politicians, the political institutions at different levels, had to step up and get more involved in the redevelopment, reconstruction, and sort of democratic governance, reinforcing the confidence people have in their own political, local institutions and national institutions," says Kent.
Given Haiti's history, its no wonder the average Haitian has little confidence in his government. The country's first leader after the 1804 revolution was Jean-Jacques Dessalines. He ruled as a despot and was assassinated less than three years later. This was followed by coups and counter coups. The U.S. occupied the island from 1915 to 1934. From 1957 to 1986, the Duvaliers reigned, creating death squads known as Tonton Macoutes.
Jean-Bertrand Aristide, a former activist priest, became Haiti's first democratically elected president in 1991. Initially hailed as a saviour, his two terms have been marked by controversy and civil unrest. Elected twice, and forced into exile twice, he remains a polarizing figure in Haitian politics. President Preval had close ties to the still-exiled Aristide.
In any case, it's pointless to talk about stabilizing government when most Haitians live on less than $2 U.S. a day. Increasingly, trade is gaining prominence in discussions between experts who say foreign aid simply leaves developing countries dependent on the First World.
Oda says trade is part of economic growth, something the international community has to help Haiti develop.
"In fact, Haiti would have been historically a large producer of textiles and garment exporting to North America. It lost that industry and now we're looking at how we can rejuvenate the industry there."
FOCAL's Dade, who spent five years working in Haiti, says the Caribbean country is much better placed than Asia to be a manufacturing hub.
"The cost of transport is a fraction of what it is from China. You can get perishable goods out quickly . . . you're looking at less than a day by ship," Dade says.
"They're going to need money other than money given to them . . . which means economic growth and job creation."
Collier, the economics professor who studied Haiti for the UN, says the single-most strategic way to help Haiti is to help create jobs for young people.
Few earn a living wage, and while they've traditionally migrated to Canada or the U.S., the recession makes that more difficult. "That's a bit of a human tragedy and a source of potential social disturbance," Collier says.
Dade argues that despite criticism over sweatshops, working in a North American-run factory is a better option than what's now available to young Haitians. And he says there are garment manufacturers eager to go back.
"They will do it partly out of an interest to do something," he said. "It's not going to be a magic bullet, but it's low-hanging fruit."
Collier says donor countries can't expect Brazil, Uruguay and Peru to keep their peacekeepers in Haiti forever. "The responsibility for the rest of us is to make sure there's a credible exit strategy for those troops. And that exit strategy is jobs."
Dade says while Canadians view security as a priority, other countries would argue it comes naturally once people have jobs. "The Brazilians scratch their heads," he says. "The two go hand-in-hand."
Jean St. Vil, who grew up in Haiti and has lived in Canada since 1983, has his reservations. He argues rebuilding the garment industry won't help a country without unions to protect workers.
"In places like Haiti, Honduras, and Guatemala, what we're seeing is crass exploitation of people who are left without any protection by a weakened state," St. Vil says.
Canada's ambassador to Haiti spent most of his career working on Latin American files for CIDA. Gilles Rivard has been travelling to Haiti for years. He says he's seen drastic reductions in kidnappings and other crimes since 2004. In mid-July, Canada dropped its travel advisory from "avoid non-essential travel" to "exercise a high degree of caution" in most places. And there's a cruise ship terminal being built in Labadee, near Cap Haitien, in the country's north.
"There is a lot of potential," says Rivard. "The same nice beaches are here. It's a question of roads to access those beaches and to build hotels."
Twenty-five years ago, there were more tourists in Haiti than in the Dominican Republic, he added.
In a small downtown Ottawa barber shop, Frantzceau Zephir and Yves Vilpigue talk frankly about the country they left a little more than a decade ago.
They echo the ambassador's call for more tourism. "We've got beautiful beach, we've got nice sun over there," says Vilpigue.
"Haiti's not ugly. It's not dirty like people think."
"Cite Soleil is the only place (the media) are willing to show you," continues Zephir, referring to Port-au-Prince's notorious shantytown.
Both men want to see Canadian companies invest in the country, yet they worry about corruption.
"Things are not easy in Haiti," says Vilpigue. "Canadian organizations who want to invest, they have to be smart . . . if that money gets stolen by the Haitian government members, I would be sad. Because I don't want the Canadian government acting naive."
Not everyone agrees Canada has had an entirely positive effect on the country. Former Haitian president Jean-Bertrand Aristide alleged he was ousted by U.S. forces in February 2004. And some Haitians believe Canada assisted with the removal, alleging the then-Liberal government hosted a meeting at Meech Lake that decided on Aristide's departure a year before it happened.
The next two years will be crucial. In June, a run-off election to fill Senate vacancies saw less than 11 per cent voter turnout, in part because there was a boycott by Aristide's Fanmi Lavalas party after its candidates were barred from running. Violence in one area cancelled voting in the first round in April. All this after the vote was delayed 18 months.
This fall brings the next set of elections for the lower chamber and another third of the Senate. The presidential election is next, in 2010, if it's not postponed.
It's unclear how long Canada will stay involved in Haiti. Oda says there are benchmarks the Canadian government wants the country to hit, although her answer hints at an eventual departure.
"There are certain stabilizing factors like food, security, basic security, building opportunities that have to be there before you can even consider an exit strategy."
"We want to see the government of Haiti increasing its own internal sources of revenue so it then consequently can provide the basic services needed by the population in Haiti," she says.
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