25252: Wharram - News - Charest to travel to Haiti to show Quebec's support for island country (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Bruce Wharram <bruce.wharram@sev.org>



Yahoo! News
Charest to travel to Haiti to show Quebec's support for island country

Tue May 31, 3:05 AM ET

QUEBEC (CP) - Quebec's ongoing support for Haiti will be stressed next
weekend when Jean Charest becomes the first Quebec premier to make an
official visit to the island country.

Haiti's ties with Quebec are based on their memberships in la Francophonie
and the emigration of nearly 76,000 Haitians to Quebec. Charest will visit
the capital in Port-au-Prince, along with Gonaives and St-Marc, where he
will meet Quebecers and Haitians who are working for international agencies.

The premier will also meet with interim Haitian president Boniface Alexandre
and interim prime minister Gerard Latortue.

Quebec has sent goods and experts to the beleaguered country along with cash
since hurricane Jeanne wreaked havoc last fall.

Flooding caused more than 1,000 deaths and destroyed infrastructure,
including the main hospital.

Some 75 police officers are participating in a United Nations force that
trying to ensure security in the country.

About 40 per cent of Quebec's international support has gone to Haiti. Since
1997, Quebec's reconstruction efforts in the island have totalled $10
million.

Haiti has undergone years of political instability, which culminated in
February 2004 to the forced exile of president Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

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