Jean of Haiti: Canada to Solve Haiti's "Problems"

Comment and article from the website of the Canada Haiti Action Network:

Comment, with links, January 15, 2009:
Governor General calls for action; but has she taken the opportunity
to reflect?

Canada's Governor General, the Haitian-born Michaëlle Jean, is currently visiting Haiti(15th-18th January 2009). She calls for Canadian `action' in Haiti-but has she taken the time to reflect on the consequence of past Canadian actions? In her statements on Haiti, Jean has never discussed Canada's role in the 2004 Coup d'Etat, nor its support of the unelected 2004-2006 Latortue regime, accused of severe human right violations (see report from the medical journal The Lancet here). Today, as the RCMP admits its failure to train the Haitian police, and the role of foreign occupation in exacerbating the situation in Haiti becomes better known, the Governor General's call to action will only mean more of the same for Haiti.

News article:

`Now is the time for action,' Jean says of Haiti.
The Canadian Press January 15, 2009 at 6:26 PM EST

PORT-AU-PRINCE — Governor-General Michäelle Jean says the time has passed for cataloguing the litany of problems plaguing her native country and it's now time to try solving them.

Ms. Jean and husband Jean-Daniel Lafond arrived Thursday for a four-day visit to her native Haiti.

The trip comes at the request of Prime Minister Stephen Harper as Haitians struggle in the face of a food crisis exacerbated by hurricanes and tropical storms that have ravaged the country.

Already the poorest country in the Americas, Haiti has been grappling with rising rates of malnutrition and hunger. Its moribund economy shrank by a staggering 15 per cent in 2008.

Ms. Jean is scheduled to visit a hurricane disaster-response site, agriculture programs and a police training centre.

"I believe the time for assessments [of Haiti's problems] has passed," she told reporters at the airport. "Now is the time for action."

Haiti is Canada's biggest development assistance beneficiary in the Americas, and the second largest in the world after Afghanistan.

The Harper government has increased existing Canadian aid commitments to $555-million over five years. The funds are aimed at addressing a vicious circle of overlapping problems.

For example, a lack of electricity has led to the widespread deforestation of a once-lush tropical paradise, as people chop trees for wood to cook meals. With large swaths of the verdant land reduced to desert-like patches, Haiti has suffered soil erosion and mudslides that further complicate efforts to grow food and ward off natural disaster.

Such rampant poverty has also fuelled social unrest and political tensions.

"Numerous assessments have been made," Ms. Jean said. "They have been made for decades. I believe we're well aware of the state of affairs, the realities, the stakes, the challenges. But I think we're all in agreement that it's really time to move toward concrete action, to see how we can consolidate what has already been done, but to push even farther."

She was welcomed at the airport by a brass band and Haitian President René Préval, who thanked Canada for its efforts in his country.

Ms. Jean took several questions from local and Canadian media, but sidestepped a query about the key role she played in Canada's recent political history. When asked about her decision to allow Harper to shut down Parliament in December — a move that likely saved his government — she said it wasn't the time to discuss the matter.

"My priority right now is really to address the Haitian people on behalf of Canada, and to concentrate on the mission here."