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CUPE Ontario stands in solidarity with the people of Haiti during the crisis caused by the massive earthquake on January 12, 2010, the aftershocks since, and the devastation caused by prioritizing security over aid. The people of Haiti are enduring unimaginable suffering and we call on the Governments of Ontario and Canada to offer all emergency and medical aid possible.
Further, CUPE Ontario calls on all levels of government to stop any military blockades that are preventing aid from reaching people and to prevent further militarization in Haiti. Haitians must be allowed to rebuild their country to be a robust democracy wherein the people control its land, its resources and its destiny. Public control of infrastructure and services by Haitians must be a fundamental aspect of any rebuilding.
CUPE Ontario is committed to working with groups like the Canada Haiti Action Network to support the people of Haiti to live under a government of their own choice. We applaud the resolve of Haitians in resisting attempts to further privatize, militarize and impoverish Haiti.
A little about Haiti’s history
The first successful slave rebellion in history established the world’s first Black republic in Haiti in 1804. Enslaved Africans rose up in 1791 and vanquished the armies of France, England and Spain. They defeated the most powerful armies in the world at the time, and derailed the Trans-Atlantic slave trade, destroyed the French Empire and inspired other people’s movements.
For their courageous actions, Haitians were forced to pay an indemnity of over 150 million francs in reparations to the French! This is the equivalent of 21 billion dollars in today’s terms and took almost 100 years to repay. This is one of the reasons why Haiti is the poorest nation in the Americas. Haiti’s history has left it with a class system where a few wealthy families control the nation. Just as Haiti was trying to recover from this cycle, world powers, such as the US, France, and Canada as well, were already strangling Haiti in other ways. Haiti became a pawn in the Western powers’ fight against Communism, for instance. Papa Doc Duvalier, later branded a brutal dictator, initially won the support of the West because of his opposition to Communism.
Increasingly, the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, and the Inter-American Development Bank have pressured Haiti to privatize public assets. Public services, such as education and health care, were partly privatized in the 1990s. Haiti’s agriculture was devastated because it has been forced to allow food to be imported and sold cheaply in the country. Prior to this earthquake, Haiti remained in debt for over a billion dollars. This is why Haiti now has so few resources of its own to cope with even the basic medical needs of its people.
Connection to Canada
Many of us do not know that Haiti is Canada’s largest aid commitment after Afghanistan. But Canada’s relations with Haiti date back to the 1700s, when both were part of the French Empire. Exchange slowed as France lost its colonies in the New World in the mid-18th Century. Haitians have immigrated to Canada in large numbers since the mid-20th Century. Currently, there are nearly 90,000 Haitian-Canadians, many of whom live in Quebec. And, of course, Canada’s current Governor-General, Michaëlle Jean, was herself born in Haiti.
Canadian intervention in Haiti has recently risen dramatically. In 2004, the Canadian government backed the US decision to remove the elected President, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, from office. The three intervening powers claimed that Aristide was corrupt and unpopular. Exiled in South Africa, Aristide says that he was forcibly removed because he refused to privatize more of Haiti’s public infrastructure than had already been lost to the private sector in the 1990s and because he was dedicated to improving the lot of the country’s poor.
Coalition groups supporting Haiti in Canada
For more information on progressive coalition work with Haiti, please visit Canada Haiti Action Network at http://canadahaitiaction.ca/ and the Toronto Haiti Action Committee at http://www.thac.ca/
The Nation, a progressive magazine based in the US, has an archive of articles about Haiti that provide more context. You may also want to visit their website for a broad overview: http://www.thenation.com/sections/haiti
CUPE’s commitment to Haiti
CUPE Ontario is committed to working with concerned CUPE members in Ontario. To begin with, CUPE National has made a donation of $100,000 toward relief efforts. Ongoing worker-to-worker solidarity between union activists in Haiti continues through the work of the National union’s Global Justice Committee and staff, as well as with CUPE Ontario’s own International Solidarity Committee in Ontario. Please contact the CUPE Ontario International Solidarity Committee if you would like to get more involved in their work. You can send an e-mail to [email protected] or visit our website at www.cupe.on.ca
What local unions and members can do
CUPE Ontario is encouraging CUPE Locals in Ontario to consider making donations to smaller scale progressive organizations such as Partners in Health (Zanmi Lasante); a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) with over 20 years on the ground in Haiti: http://www.pih.org/where/Haiti/Haiti.html
Or support Doctors Without Borders Canada in their Haiti relief. Doctors Without Borders operates clinics in Port-au-Prince and the surrounding neighbourhoods: http://www.msf.ca/
The Haiti Emergency Relief Fund is a US-based NGO that is doing important work in the areas of defending trade union organizers and other progressive causes and is worthy of support: http://www.haitiaction.net/About/HERF/HERF.html
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Fred Hahn |
Candance Rennick Secretary-Treasurer |
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