canada - Haiti Observer Blog

Kombite Outaouais, is proudly announcing the 8th edition of the "Festival Haïti en fête".

Thanks to the support offered by the Canadian Government through Building Communities Through Arts and Heritage program, the festival Haïti en fête in Canada will present the public a wide selection of musical and dance performances that will highlight the culture of Haiti and bring some freshness to the summer of 2014.

As Royal Galipeau, Member of Parliament (Ottawa-Orléans), announced, the festival will receive a designated sum of $11,200. The money goes to "Kombite Outaouais", the official organizer of the festival that is to take place from July 18 to 20, 2014 on the special location of Petrie Island, east of Ottawa.

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Emmanuel Dubourg, the Federal Deputy of Bourassa constituency in Quebec is a Haitian origin who is a politician, a teacher and a Chartered Accountant. He has paid a recent visit at the Haitian Embassy in Ottawa in Canada where he was received by the Haitian Ambassador Frantz Liautaud & the staff of the mission.

The Federal Deputy of Bourassa, Emmanuel Dubourg was a member of the National Assembly for the provincial electoral district between 2007 and 2013. He was the third black member of the National Assembly (MNA) of Quebec as deputy of Viau till he got elected as the Liberal Member of Parliament for the Montreal riding of Bourassa on 25 November 2013. He was a teacher of many renowned educational institutions like Université du Québec à Montréal, CEGEP Montmorency and Université du Québec en Outaouais. He has been honored with many awards and citations for his excellent contributions and innovative thoughts over the years, like, "Governor General's Medal" (for his vice-regal representation of the monarch), "Revenue Canada" in 1992 (for excellent administration of Tax Laws) and "Black History Month Award" in 2006 (for his work in the Black Community, awarded in remembrance of important African Diasporas).

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2014 is not a leap year. So, that means 28 days are all we will have. Still, while the date February 29 will not come around again for another two years, this man-made measurement of time cannot postpone the 10th anniversary of the overthrowing of the Aristide administration.

As chronicled in part 1 of a 3 part series by writer Yves Engler for the newsletter Dissent Voice, the government of Canada's Jean Chrétien, the then Prime Minister, organized an initiative to which French, Canadian and American officials were invited. The object of the "Ottawa Initiative on Haiti" was to have the country's democratically elected President ousted so the army could be reinstated and the country put under a trusteeship by the United Nations, much like that for Kosovo.

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Haiti is not just open for business, but tourism as well, showing that the frequent trips made by members of the government, especially as it relates to those in the tourism ministry, have not been a waste of money. Adding to the recent roster of new tourism opportunities being introduced to the steadily pushing-forward country, is the announced planned increase in seat numbers being offered by Air Canada's shift in carriers.

Air Canada announced on January 27, 2014 that their subsidiary leisure carrier, Air Canada rougeTM will be expanding Air Canada's carrying capacity to Caribbean destinations for the summer following the conversion of former Air Canada Toronto and Montreal routes to Air Canada rouge. The changed routes include that from Montreal to Haiti's Port-au-Prince, previously charted by the company's mainline carrier.

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A Quebec human rights group, Concertation pour Haiti (CPH), is advocating on behalf of the government of Haiti (GOH) about Canada and the international community's (IC) questionable ethics on helping Haiti rebuild its infrastructure after the 2010 earthquake. Specifically, CPH says the Canadian government won't reveal how $555 million in foreign aid is being spent on reconstruction efforts.

University of Montréal researcher, Paul Cliché, thinks Canada has spent far too much money on quick fixes for the housing problem in Haiti. Instead of constructing permanent housing, or rebuilding damaged residences, it is subsidizing ghetto-type temporary housing. This is to encourage Haitians still surviving in tent cities to move out of them. The problem, though, is the subsidies don't extend longer than a year, and with 60% of Haitians out of work, they could end up on the streets again.

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Reconstruction plans for Haiti are coming along quite well as evidenced in Port-au-Prince, more specifically within Champ de Mars and the efforts should be completed by June 2014. There will be one large park which will allow the monuments already in place between locations Christophe, Dessalines and the Constitution to remain intact. It will be the largest leisure park in the capital providing families with a place to go and enjoy. There will be a beautiful garden to give pleasure to its visitors. There will be basketball and volleyball courts for the children along with a skateboard park. There will also be areas providing concessions and handmade items and crafts.

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A trade mission to four cities in Canada took place between November 19 and 23. Within the delegation were those wishing to strengthen the trade relations between Haiti and the North American country. 40 representatives of Haitian businesses and the wider public sector flew to Canada to be part of the effort.

The cities of Ontario, Quebec, Montreal and Ottawa hosted the members of the Haitian-Canadian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (HCCCI), which had its start nearly ten years ago, and continues to foster good business relations between the two countries. The hope of this trip was to stir up continued interest in the creation of business and partnership opportunities between Canada and Haiti.

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A woman originally from the Dominican Republic, who holds passports from both that country and Canada, was held recently after an x-ray of three pumpkins she was traveling with on a flight to Canada revealed that the Halloween staples were packed with bags of cocaine.

Suspicion arose when a Border Service Agent at Canada Airport asked 26 years old Mercedes Jerez Farias, who was not able to lift her own luggage due to the weight added to by the 4.7 kilos of smuggled cocaine, questions she was unable to adequately answer. Adding to her tight-lipped approach, Farias declined to answer to further questioning put to her after she was arrested by the RCMP.

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A report from the Workers' Rights Consortium, the WRC, has shamed Canadian garment company, Gildan Activewear into committing to pay each laborer at their Haitian based factories at least the $7.22 prescribed by the Caribbean country as the minimum wage to be earned by any worker.

The Montreal-based company has suffered weeks of bad pressed following reports by the WRC that its production of college-logo apparel was being made on the backs of people who sometimes were not paid enough to provide themselves with food.

Labeled, 'Stealing from the Poor: Wage Theft in the Haitian Apparel Industry,' the report documented interviews with workers from 5 of the 24 factories in the country. They found and revealed that the average worker was paid a wage that was 32% less than what is stipulated by law. According to the report, these workers were often locked in at the facilities until all work was completed and were without access to health care, were under-fed and had debts that couldn't possibly be met as an average of seven weeks' worth of pay was being siphoned away from them each year.

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If everything goes his way for Canadian businessman Charles Edward Narcisse, Former President Rene Preval would have to come up with the sum of $ 13 million to give him.

According to touthaiti.com, the Canadian businessman is suing our former President for something called "immeasurable damage"

Based on information obtained on touthaiti.com, Canadian businessman Charles Edward Narcisse is reporting that between 1996 and 1998, he has lived through hell in Haiti.

According to a complaint filed at the courthouse in Longueuil, Canada on October 17, 2013, his "immeasurable damage" came as a result of his work in Haiti to advise the government on reviving the Cement of Haiti and his problems with an influential family there.

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