'Let Haiti decide its own destiny': Canada sends armoured vehicles to Haiti, but experts question involvement
A shipment of armoured vehicles from Canada and the U.S. arrived in Haiti on Saturday as violence ensues in the nation, but some experts are questioning Canada's decision to intervene.
The coordinated shipment was planned under a joint operation with the Royal Canadian Air Force and the U.S. Air Force. Global Affairs Canada released a statement Saturday evening confirming the joint delivery of armoured vehicles from the Canadian and U.S. military has arrived in Haiti.
“Today, Canadian and U.S. military aircraft arrived in Port-au-Prince, Haiti to transfer vital Haitian government-purchased security equipment, including tactical and armoured vehicles, and supplies to the Director General of the Haitian National Police (HNP),†the statement reads.
, issued by Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly and National Defence Minister Anita Anand, says the equipment is intended to help the Haitian National Police against violence insinuated by "criminal actors."
There has been growing concern for the nation who had their president assassinated last year, is experiencing an ongoing cholera epidemic and sexual violence against women, children and men by gangs. The Haitian government had also urged countries like Canada and the U.S. to provide security assistance.
The federal government says Canada will be working with other international partners to help Haiti’s law enforcement in training more police officers. The statement did not include if any additional police tools like firearms and bulletproof vests were included in the shipment. Canada's ambassador to Haiti Sebastien Carriere also said on they will not be releasing the vehicle numbers or models to avoid exposing the information to gangs in the country.
While Canada has pledged financial aid in recent months for Haiti, experts and activists that have been closely following the events in the country over the last two decades say Haiti needs to be left alone.
“We keep saying what we’ve been saying for a long time, let Haiti decide its own destiny,†former Canadian ambassador to Haiti Gilles Rivard told CTV News in an interview.
Rivard, who served as the ambassador between 2008 and 2010 and later again in 2014, says Canada shouldn’t intervene in Haiti’s affairs until the country is able to make an agreement between its society and the government to run an election and solidify a government.
“Where do you start and where do you finish? Until there is no roadmap to put that country back on track in terms of political structureâ€? he said. “There's a lot that has to be done but that first part has to come from Haiti in my view.â€
Haitian-Canadian activist Jean Saint-Vil says the Haitian people have been feeling the same.
“Get out. Haitians have been telling Canada, the United States, Europe to get out,†he told CTV News in an interview.
Saint-Vil says instead there needs to be reparations made to the country starting with the United Nations involvement in the cholera outbreak. In 2013 the UN had disputed claims that their peacekeepers brought cholera to the country during recovery efforts after the 2010 earthquake. The UN did not say they started the epidemic but they did admit their own involvement in 2016 after a report made by a UN investigator was leaked.
Since 2010, the cholera outbreak has killed nearly 10,000 people on the island according to the
“The reason why they are propping up this thing right now is to pretend that this is a humanitarian intervention,†he said.
following the statement on the new shipment, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau reiterated Canada’s commitment to support Haiti’s law enforcement.
“Our two countries remain committed to supporting the Haitian National Police’s work of protecting and serving the people of Haiti. And together, we’ll continue to support the restoration of security in Haiti,†he said.
IN DEPTH
Jagmeet Singh pulls NDP out of deal with Trudeau Liberals, takes aim at Poilievre Conservatives
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh has pulled his party out of the supply-and-confidence agreement that had been helping keep Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's minority Liberals in power.
'Not the result we wanted': Trudeau responds after surprise Conservative byelection win in Liberal stronghold
Conservative candidate Don Stewart winning the closely-watched Toronto-St. Paul's federal byelection, and delivering a stunning upset to Justin Trudeau's candidate Leslie Church in the long-time Liberal riding, has sent political shockwaves through both parties.
'We will go with the majority': Liberals slammed by opposition over proposal to delay next election
The federal Liberal government learned Friday it might have to retreat on a proposal within its electoral reform legislation to delay the next vote by one week, after all opposition parties came out to say they can't support it.
Budget 2024 prioritizes housing while taxing highest earners, deficit projected at $39.8B
In an effort to level the playing field for young people, in the 2024 federal budget, the government is targeting Canada's highest earners with new taxes in order to help offset billions in new spending to enhance the country's housing supply and social supports.
'One of the greatest': Former prime minister Brian Mulroney commemorated at state funeral
Prominent Canadians, political leaders, and family members remembered former prime minister and Progressive Conservative titan Brian Mulroney as an ambitious and compassionate nation-builder at his state funeral on Saturday.
Opinion
opinion Don Martin: Gusher of Liberal spending won't put out the fire in this dumpster
A Hail Mary rehash of the greatest hits from the Trudeau government’s three-week travelling pony-show, the 2024 federal budget takes aim at reversing the party’s popularity plunge in the under-40 set, writes political columnist Don Martin. But will it work before the next election?
opinion Don Martin: The doctor Trudeau dumped has a prescription for better health care
Political columnist Don Martin sat down with former federal health minister Jane Philpott, who's on a crusade to help fix Canada's broken health care system, and who declined to take any shots at the prime minister who dumped her from caucus.
opinion Don Martin: Trudeau's seeking shelter from the housing storm he helped create
While Justin Trudeau's recent housing announcements are generally drawing praise from experts, political columnist Don Martin argues there shouldn’t be any standing ovations for a prime minister who helped caused the problem in the first place.
opinion Don Martin: Poilievre has the field to himself as he races across the country to big crowds
It came to pass on Thursday evening that the confidentially predictable failure of the Official Opposition non-confidence motion went down with 204 Liberal, BQ and NDP nays to 116 Conservative yeas. But forcing Canada into a federal election campaign was never the point.
opinion Don Martin: How a beer break may have doomed the carbon tax hike
When the Liberal government chopped a planned beer excise tax hike to two per cent from 4.5 per cent and froze future increases until after the next election, says political columnist Don Martin, it almost guaranteed a similar carbon tax move in the offing.
CTVNews.ca ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½
Three men were injured after trying to subdue a man armed with a knife during afternoon prayers at a Montreal-area mosque Friday afternoon.
Police have arrested an 18-year-old woman who allegedly stole a Porsche and then ran over its owner in an incident that was captured on video.
Since she was a young girl growing up in Vancouver, Ginny Lam says her mom Yat Hei Law made it very clear she favoured her son William, because he was her male heir.
A 15-year-old boy who was the subject of an emergency alert in New Brunswick has been arrested.
Kamala Harris tells Oprah any intruder to her home is 'getting shot'
U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris on Thursday issued a warning to any potential home intruder: 'If somebody breaks in my house, they're getting shot.'
The search for a missing six-year-old boy in Shamattawa is continuing Friday as RCMP hope recent tips can help lead to a happy conclusion.
On the trail of the mystery woman whose company licensed exploding pagers
What Cristiana Barsony-Arcidiacono, 49, the Italian-Hungarian CEO and owner of Hungary-based BAC Consulting, says she hasn't done is make the exploding pagers that killed 12 people and wounded more than 2,000 in Lebanon this week.
Advocates have identified the woman who died this week after being shot by police in Surrey, B.C., as a South American refugee who was raising a young daughter.
Provincial police investigating the death of a cat that was allegedly set on fire in Orillia earlier this week released surveillance video of a person of interest in the case.
Local Spotlight
Getting a photograph of a rainbow? Common. Getting a photo of a lightning strike? Rare. Getting a photo of both at the same time? Extremely rare, but it happened to a Manitoba photographer this week.
An anonymous business owner paid off the mortgage for a New Brunswick not-for-profit.
They say a dog is a man’s best friend. In the case of Darren Cropper, from Bonfield, Ont., his three-year-old Siberian husky and golden retriever mix named Bear literally saved his life.
A growing group of brides and wedding photographers from across the province say they have been taken for tens of thousands of dollars by a Barrie, Ont. wedding photographer.
Paleontologists from the Royal B.C. Museum have uncovered "a trove of extraordinary fossils" high in the mountains of northern B.C., the museum announced Thursday.
The search for a missing ancient 28-year-old chocolate donkey ended with a tragic discovery Wednesday.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police is celebrating an important milestone in the organization's history: 50 years since the first women joined the force.
It's been a whirlwind of joyful events for a northern Ontario couple who just welcomed a baby into their family and won the $70 million Lotto Max jackpot last month.
A Good Samaritan in New Brunswick has replaced a man's stolen bottle cart so he can continue to collect cans and bottles in his Moncton neighbourhood.