27498: Saint-Vil (news) New Canadian Premier Gets Sound Advice on Haiti (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Jean Saint-Vil <jafrikayiti@hotmail.com>

PRESS RELEASE

Mr. Stephen Harper, Canada's new Prime Minister, will take office in
Ottawa the morning of February 6, 2006. Hours later, 5 p.m. E.S.T., a
delegation from the National Capital Region's Haitian-Canadian
Community will deliver to the Prime Minister's Office a petition letter
demanding a new Haiti policy.

"Canada should effectively end the support it provides to the illegal
forces that usurped power in Haiti with the February 2004 coup
d'État".

The delegation advises the new Prime Minister to support the withdrawal
of occupation troops from Haiti, at the earliest possible date. By the
same token, they recommend that Mr. Harper answers positively all
reasonable request for assistance from the new Haitian government
coming out of the February 7, 2006 elections.

- 30 -

Ottawa February 6, 2006

The Honourable Stephen Harper
Prime Minister of Canada
Ottawa, Canada

Re: Harmonizing Canadian foreign policy with the return of
constitutional order in Haiti.

Dear Prime Minister Harper:

Please allow us to congratulate you on being democratically elected to
office by the People of Canada this past January 23, 2006. The purpose
of this letter/petition is to support the Haitian People as they
attempt to also choose in peace their national representatives on
February 7, 2006. In particular, they insist that this time around
their elected officials be afforded to complete their mandates without
risking punitive actions such as another bloody coup d'État at the
hands of foreign powers that happen to disagree with the choices made
by the sovereign People of Haiti.

The disastrous impact your predecessors' policies had on the Haitian
People is now well established. Their active participation in the
destabilization and overthrow of Haiti's last elected government,
their stubborn investments in character-assassination against M.
Aristide, the Head of State they helped to overthrow and force to exile
in Africa, their use of Canadian tax-payers money to finance, through
CIDA-funded organizations, the repression of Lavalas (Aristide's
party) leaders turned political prisoners such as Mr. Yvon Neptune,
Haiti's last Constitutional Prime Minister, former Minister Jocelerme
Privert, singer-activist Annette Auguste, and so many more; All this
requires immediate amend.

The time has come, Mr. Harper, to restore Canada's sullied reputation
since the racist and bloody coup of February 2004, especially in the
Caribbean and in the eyes of People of African decent worldwide.

Please note, Mr. Harper, that your predecessor's misdeeds were all
avoidable for, as early as March 2003, one year before the coup, we had
written on behalf of LACHASAUSHA to Prime Minister Jean Chrétien: «
It is with outrage we learned from the March 15, 2003 edition of
l'Actualité Magazine that the Government of Canada is actively
working to overthrow the Republic of Haiti's constitutional
government. »

« Il faut renverser Aristide. Et ce n'est pas l'opposition
haïtienne qui le réclame, mais des parlementaires de plusieurs pays
réunis à l'initiative du Canada!» (Aristide must be overthrown.
And it is not the Haitian opposition pushing for it but
parliamentarians of several countries brought together by Canadian
initiative), such are the scandalous but accurate revelations made by
journalist Michel Vastel, in his article titled: Haïti mise en tutelle
par l'O.N.U ? (Haiti put under U.N Tutelage?).

3 years later now, the overthrow of Haiti's democratically-elected
government, the U.N. tutelage, and the creation of a militarized and
repressive police force are all parts of a very real nightmare forced
upon the People of Haiti.

Immediately after the February 29, 2004 coup d'État and over the
months which followed, the Comité des Haïtiens de l'Outaouais pour
la reconstruction d'Haïti (CHORHA) wrote several letters addressed
to Prime Minister Paul Martin and to Foreign Ministers Bill Graham and
Pierre Pettigrew to demand a modification of Canadian policy towards
Haiti. All these efforts were to no avail.

Now, what can your government do to repair the mess already made?

The only viable solution Mr. Harper is to immediately stir Canada's
Haiti policy in the direction of genuine solidarity and true respect
for the democratic aspirations of the Haitian people. We must respect
the sovereign rights of this impoverished but proud and resilient
people. Canada must abandon the perilous trail of paternalism in which
the liberals got themselves entangled.

Concretely, the new Canadian policy should effectively contribute to:

1) Ending the support provided by foreign powers to the illegal forces
that usurped power in Haiti with the February 2004 coup d'État.
2) Withdrawing the foreign occupation troops from the country, at the
earliest possible date;
3) Answering all reasonable request for assistance from the new
government coming out of the February 7, 2006 elections which seeks to
a) restore constitutional order b) stop the campaign of repression and
violence that affects primarily the most vulnerable members of Haitian
society;
4) Stopping the strangulation of the Haitian economy;
5) Shedding light on the circumstances of the February 29, 2004 coup
d'État which the liberals kept hidden from Canadians, for reasons
they would prefer not to admit.

As we wish you an inspiring Black History Month, we rest assured, Mr.
Prime Minister, that you will pay due attention to this matter of great
importance and urgency.

Sincerely Yours,

_________________
Jean Saint-Vil for l'Association canado haïtienne pour la sauvegarde
de la souveraineté d'Haïti (l'ACHaSauSHa)

__________________
Raymond Dubuisson

For Le Comité des Haitiens de l'Outaouais pour la reconstruction
d'Haiti (CHORHA)

This text is also endorsed by the following sons and daughters of
Haiti: Yves Antoine, Darlène Lozis, Jude Jean-François, Michel-Ange
Hyppolite & Marlène Chouloutte Hyppolite.

For verification: 105 boulevard Riel, Gatineau, J8Y- 5Y4, Tél : (819)
661-8474