Dear Prime Minister Justin Trudeau,
It is time to change Canadian policy towards a nation born in struggle to liberate Africans from slavery.
The Canadian government must end its support for a repressive, corrupt Haitian president devoid of constitutional legitimacy. For the past two years Haitians have demonstrated their overwhelming opposition to Jovenel Moïse with massive protests and general strikes calling for his departure from office.
Since February 7 Jovenel Moïse has been occupying the presidential palace in Port-au-Prince in defiance of the overwhelming majority of the country’s institutions. Moïse’s claim to another year on his mandate was rejected by the Superior Council of Judicial Power, Haitian Bar Federation and other constitutional authorities. In response to the opposition selecting a Supreme Court judge to head an interim government after his mandate expired, Moïse arrested one and illegally dismissed three Supreme Court justices. The police were also sent to occupy the Supreme Court and repress those protesting, shooting two reporters covering the demonstrations. The country’s judges have launched an unlimited strike to force Moïse to respect the constitution.
Moïse has ruled by decree since January 2020. After the mandates of most officials expired due to his failure to hold elections, Moïse announced a plan to rewrite the constitution. Fair elections are unlikely under Moïse’s leadership as he recently pressured the entire electoral council to resign and then appointed new members unilaterally.
Having garnered fewer than 600,000 votes in a country of 11 million, Moïse’s legitimacy has always been weak. Since massive anti-corruption and anti-IMF protests erupted in mid-2018 Moïse has become steadily more repressive. A recent presidential decree criminalized protest blockades as “terrorism” while another established a new intelligence agency with anonymous officers empowered to infiltrate and arrest anyone deemed to be engaging in ‘subversive’ acts or threatening ‘state security’. In the worst documented case, the UN confirmed the Haitian government’s culpability in a massacre of up to 71 civilians in the impoverished Port-au-Prince neighborhood of La Saline in mid-November 2018.
All this information is available to Canadian officials, however, they continue to fund and train a police force that has violently repressed anti-Moïse protests. The Canadian ambassador in Haiti has repeatedly attended police functions all the while refusing to criticize their repression of protesters. On January 18 ambassador Stuart Savage met the controversial new head of police Leon Charles to discuss “strengthening the capacity of the police.”
As part of the influential US, France, OAS, UN, Spain “Core Group” of foreign ambassadors in Port-au-Prince, Canadian officials have offered Moïse important diplomatic support. On February 12 Foreign Minister Marc Garneau spoke with Haiti’s de facto foreign minister. The post meeting statement announced plans for Haiti and Canada to co-host a forthcoming conference. The statement made no mention, however, of Moïse extending his mandate, illegally firing Supreme Court judges, ruling by decree or criminalizing protests.
It’s time for the Canadian government to stop propping up a repressive and corrupt dictatorship in Haiti.
initial SIGNATORIES:
Noam Chomsky, author & Professor
Naomi Klein, author, Rutgers University
David Suzuki, Award winning geneticist/broadcaster
Paul Manly, Member of Parliament
Leah Gazan, Member of Parliament
Alexandre Boulerice, Member of Parliament
Roger Waters, co-founder Pink Floyd
Stephen Lewis, Former UN ambassador
El Jones, poet and professor
Gabor Maté, author
Svend Robinson, former Member of Parliament
Libby Davies, former Member of Parliament
Jim Manly, former Member of Parliament
Will Prosper, filmmaker and human rights activist
Robyn Maynard, author Policing Black Lives
George Elliott Clarke, former Canadian Poet Laureate
Linda McQuaig, journalist & author
Jean Claude Icart, professeur UQAM
Françoise Boucard, former chair Haiti’s National Truth and Justice Commission
Rinaldo Walcott, Professor and Writer
Judy Rebick, journalist
Frantz Voltaire, Éditeur
Greg Grandin, Professor of History Yale University
André Michel, Président ex-officio Les Artistes pour la Paix
Laurel Sprengelmeyer, musician
Marie-Célie Agnant, novelist
Harsha Walia, activist/writer
Vijay Prashad, executive-director Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research
Kim Ives, editor Haïti Liberté
Anthony N. Morgan, racial justice lawyer
Andray Domise, journalist
Torq Campbell, musician (Stars)
Alain Deneault, philosophe
Peter Hallward, author of Damming the Flood: Haiti and the Politics of Containment
Dimitri Lascaris, lawyer, journalist and activist
Antonia Zerbisias, journalist/activist
Missy Nadege, Madame Boukman - Justice 4 Haiti
Jeb Sprague, author Paramilitarism and the assault on democracy in Haiti
Brian Concannon, Executive Director of Project Blueprint.
Eva Manly, retired filmmaker, activist
Beatrice Lindstrom, Clinical Instructor, International Human Rights Clinic, Harvard Law School
John Clarke, Packer Visitor in Social Justice York University
Jord Samolesky, Propagandhi
Serge Bouchereau, activist
Elie Pierre, économiste
Sheila Cano, artist
Yves Engler, journalist
Jean Saint-Vil, journalist/Solidarité Québec-Haïti
Jennie-Laure Sully, Solidarité Québec-Haïti
Turenne Joseph, Solidarité Québec-Haïti
Frantz André, Comité d'action des personnes sans statut/Solidarité Québec-Haïti
Louise Leduc, Enseignante retraitée Cégep régional de Lanaudière à Joliette
Syed Hussan, migrant workers alliance
Pierre Beaudet, éditeur de la Plateforme altermondialiste, Montréal
Bianca Mugyenyi, Director Canadian Foreign Policy Institute
Justin Podur, writer/academic
Isabel Macdonald, journalist
David Swanson, Executive Director of World Beyond War
Derrick O'Keefe, writer, co-founder Ricochet
Stuart Hammond, Associate Professor, University of Ottawa
John Philpot, international defense lawyer
Frederick Jones, Dawson College
Kevin Skerrett, union researcher
Gretchen Brown, lawyer
Normand Raymond, Certified Translator, Signer and Songer-Writer
Vic Jean-Paul, activist
Victor Vaughan, activist
Ken Collier, activist
Claudia Chaufan, Associate Professor York
Jooneed Khan, journalist and human rights activist
Arnold August, author
Gary Engler, author
Stu Neatby, reporter
Scott Weinstein, activist
Courtney Kirkby, founder Tiger Lotus Coop
Greg Albo, York professor
Peter Eglin, Emeritus Professor Wilfrid Laurier University
Barry Weisleder,Federal Secretary, Socialist Action
Alan Freeman, Geopolitical Economy Research Group
Radhika Desai, Professor University of Manitoba
John Price, Professor
Travis Ross, co-editor Canada-Haiti Information Project
William Sloan, ex. refugee lawyer
Larry Hannant, historian and author
Grahame Russell, Rights Action
Richard Sanders, antiwar researcher, writer, activist
Stefan Christoff, Musician and community activist
Khaled Mouammar, Former Member of the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada
Ed Lehman Regina Peace Council
Mark Haley, Kelowna Peace Group
Carol Foort, activist
Nino Pagliccia, Venezuelan-Canadian political analyst
Ken Stone, Treasurer, Hamilton Coalition To Stop The War
Aziz Fall, President Centre Internationaliste Ryerson Foundation Aubin
Donald Cuccioletta, Coordinator of Nouveaux Cahiers du Socialisme and Montreal Urban Left
Robert Ismael, CPAM 1410 Cabaret des idées
Antonio Artuso, Cercle Jacques Roumain
André Jacob, professeur retraité Université du Québec à Montréal
Kevin Pina, Haiti Information Project
Tracy Glynn, Solidarité Fredericton and lecturer at St. Thomas University
Tobin Haley, Solidarité Fredericton and Assistant Professor of Sociology at Ryerson University
Aaron Mate, journalist
Glenn Michalchuk, Chair Peace Alliance Winnipeg
Greg Beckett, Assistant Professor of Anthropology, Western University
Marie Dimanche, founder Solidarité Québec-Haïti
Françoise Boucard, former chair Haiti’s National Truth and Justice Commission
Louise Leduc, Enseignante retraitée Cégep régional de Lanaudière à Joliette
Tamara Lorincz, fellow Canadian Foreign Policy Institute
Monia Mazigh, PhD/author
Elizabeth Gilarowski, activist
Azeezah Kanji, legal academic and journalist
David Putt, aid worker
Elaine Briere, documentary filmmaker Haiti Betrayed
Karen Rodman, Just Peace Advocates/Mouvement Pour Une Paix Juste
David Webster, Professor
Raoul Paul, co-editor Canada-Haiti Information Project
Glen Ford, Executive Editor Black Agenda Report
John McMurtry, Professor & Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada
Izabella Marengo, Artistes pour la Paix
André Cloutier, Artistes pour la Paix
Normand Raymond, Artistes pour la Paix
André Breton, artiste pour la paix, syndicaliste SPUQ
Pascale Camirand, philosophe éthicienne féministe
Martine Chatelain, Agora des Habitants de la Terre – Québec
Raôul Duguay, Artiste pour la Paix
Philippe Giroul, Agora des Habitants de la Terre – Québec
Pierre Jasmin, artiste pour la paix, Agora des Habitants de la Terre – Québec
Jean-Yves Proulx, Agora des Habitants de la Terre – Québec
Dimitrios Roussopoulos, Black Rose Books, artiste pour la paix
Tex J. G. Albert, artisan HumaniTera
Rachad Antonius, Professeur département de sociologie UQAM
André Breton, artiste pour la paix, syndicaliste retraité SPUQ
Loïc Breton, SEPB-Québec
Sébastien Brunet, Directeur Syndical, SEPB 463
Pascale Camirand, philosophe éthicienne féministe
Martine Chatelain, Agora des Habitants de la Terre – Québec, ex-présidente EAU-SECOURS
Dominique Daigneault, présidente Conseil central du Montréal métropolitain –CSN
Sophie Dansereau, artiste pour la paix
Claude Dauphin, professeur émérite - Département de musique UQAM
Nicole De Sève, syndicaliste retraitée (Centrale des Syndicats Québec)
Ramatoulaye Diallo, trésorière, Conseil central du Montréal métropolitain – CSN
Anne Lagacé Dowson, journaliste
Michel Du Cap, syndicaliste, FTQ
Raôul Duguay, Artiste pour la Paix
Renel Exentus, militant
Manon Fournier, Service de l’éducation FTQ et membre du c.a. CISO
Élisabeth Garant, directrice générale Centre justice et foi
Philippe Giroul, Agora des Habitants de la Terre – Québec
Bertrand Guibord, secrétaire général Conseil central Montréal métropolitain – CSN
Yuriko Hattori, FTQ
Chantal Ide, vice-présidente, Conseil central du Montréal métropolitain – CSN
Chantal Ismé, militante féministe et communautaire
Pierre Jasmin, artiste pour la paix, Agora des Habitants de la Terre – Québec
Benoît Lacoursière, Secrétaire général, FNEEQ-CSN
Ricardo Lamour, alias Emrical, artiste et entrepreneur social
François Lapierre, Représentant Officiel de Québec Solidaire Labelle
Gérald Larose, ex-président Confédération des Syndicats Nationaux
Hélène Le Beau, écrivain artiste pour la paix
Nicole Leblanc, Collège FTQ-Fonds
Marie-Ève Lequin, Service de l’éducation FTQ
Marie Marsolais, coopérante
Claude Morin, professeur (retraité) d'histoire de l'Amérique latine, U de Montréal
Simon Pelletier, ingénieur, Société de Transport de Montréal
Jean-Yves Proulx, Agora des Habitants de la Terre – Québec
Gustave Ricardo, étudiant en maîtrise de sociologie
Alain Saint-Victor, enseignant et historien, membre de la Concertation pour Haïti (CPH)
Gina Thésée, professeure UQAM, co-Titulaire de la Chaire UNESCO : « Démocratie, citoyenneté mondiale et éducation transformatoire.
Isabelle Touchette, Direction FTQ
Claudio Zanchettin, prof retraité de philosophie, artiste pour la paix