The West Block Transcript – Episode 27, Season 13

THE WEST BLOCK
Episode 27, Season 13
Sunday, March 17, 2024

Host: Mercedes Stephenson

Guests:
André François Giroux, Canadian Ambassador to Haiti
Bob Rae, Canadian Ambassador to United Nations

Location:
Ottawa Studio

Mercedes Stephenson: There’s a vast power vacuum in what is quickly becoming the failed state of Haiti. Can it be repaired?

I’m Mercedes Stephenson. The West Block starts now.

The fight to lead Haiti is now in the streets. With the president stepping down, it’s feared one massive gang could soon be effectively running the country. What’s Canada’s role in efforts to help secure the island nation? We talk with Canada’s ambassador on the ground in Port-au-Prince and Canada’s ambassador to the United Nations.

Violence and chaos like this new aren’t new for Haiti, but this time the situation is actually quite different, and it’s worse. There’s no longer a president after the interim leader was forced to resign, after two years without elections and increasing gang violence. He had replaced the previous president who was assassinated.

What few military and police are left in the country, have turned from trying to quell violence between rival gangs, some of which are as well-armed as small militaries to facing a new threat. Instead of fighting each other, the gangs have joined together, forming a criminal alliance that plans on being a dominant force in the country. The leader of the most powerful gang in the country, a man named Jimmy ‘Barbecue’ Chérizier, who used to be a police officer, had a warning for those who plan to intervene.

Jimmy ‘Barbecue’ Chérizier, Haitian Gang Leader: (original in French) “The international community especially the United States Canada and France and the Core Group will be responsible for