FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, February 25, 2009
President Barack Obama reportedly invited Governor General Michaelle Jean to Washington to discuss the situation in her native Haiti. People in Southern Ontario concerned about the crushing poverty in Haiti will have a chance to learn more about that country themselves next week. Filmmaker and journalist Kevin Pina and former Haitian parliamentary deputy Jean Candio, will both be speaking at public events in Toronto, Hamilton and Guelph.
Kevin Pina will also screen his acclaimed documentary film, Haiti: We Must Kill the Bandits. The film raises serious questions about the failure of the large, United Nations-sponsored foreign police and military presence to bring any measure of progress to Haiti.
“The situation in Haiti continues to deteriorate five years after the overthrow of democracy in Haiti, and five years after the “stabilization” mission undertaken by the United Nations,” says Niraj Joshi, a member of the Toronto Haiti Action Committee.
Members of the Toronto Haiti Action Committee say that every social and economic indicator in Haiti has been in decline since 2004. That's the year when Haiti's elected government and president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, were overthrown by right wing paramilitaries backed by Canada, the United States and France.
Kevin Pina, who resided in Haiti during the 1990's and 2000's, was an eyewitness to the coup d'etat against Aristide on February 29, 2004 and stayed on to document the chaotic, two-year regime of human rights violations that was appointed by the UN and other foreign powers following Aristide's overthrow. This unelected government received the first visit ever by a Canadian Prime Minister to Haiti, Paul Martin in November 2004.
Jean Candio was elected deputy to the Haitian parliament in May 2000. He was forced to leave Haiti in the violent aftermath of the 2004 coup. Prior to fleeing, his house was burned and many of his colleagues and some family members were killed. He arrived in Canada in December 2006 to seek refuge, but was arrested instead and held for 3 weeks by Canadian Border Services.
The Canadian government says it is spending $110 million per year on aid in Haiti. Much of this is directed at the ministry of justice and the training of police. Yet, the Canadian police contingent, headed by the RCMP that has been training the Haitian National Police for the past four and a half years has recently been declared a failure (National Post, January 10, 2009). The Canadian government has issued a $15 million tender for someone else to take over the job.
"The RCMP’s failure is indicative of Canada’s overall failure in Haiti,” says Glenn Davis of Toronto Haiti Action. “Canada continues to violate Haiti’s sovereignty by the deliberate underfunding and incapacitation of Haitian government ministries. Problems with the police and justice system in Haiti should be of particular concern to Canadians as programs focused upon these two agencies are the primary recipient of the $110 million per year that Canada says it is contributing to Haiti”.
In mid-February, Haiti’s Provisional Electoral Council, another institution funded by Canadian aid dollars, barred all 17 candidates of the Fanmi Lavalas party of the ousted President Aristide from running in forthcoming elections for Haiti’s Senate.
Kevin Pina and Jean Candio will be at a public event at the University of Toronto on Wednesday, March 4 at 5:00 pm. They will appear at the University of Guelph on Friday, March 6 at 4:30 pm. For further information on these events please go to www.thac.ca. For a statement by the Canada Haiti Action Network, and for more background news, go to http://canadahaitiaction.ca/. To arrange for an interview with Kevin Pina, please contact the numbers below.
Contact:
Niraj Joshi, 416-638-0821
Ali Aumeer, 647-408-2654
