Canada’s Haiti plan a mixed bag of nobility and uselessness

OTTAWA—On Feb. 16, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Canada would be deploying two navy vessels to Haiti in light of the worsening security crisis in the country. Trudeau made this announcement from the Bahamas, where he was attending the annual meeting of the 15-nation CARICOM trading bloc. Shortly thereafter, the minister of national defence issued a more detailed press release clarifying that His Majesty’s Canadian Ships (HMCS) Glace Bay and Moncton will be deployed. These two Kingston-class Maritime Coastal Defence Vessels (MCDVs) have been deployed since mid-January on Operation Projection off the coast of West Africa. As such, it will be a number of weeks before these two vessels can redeploy to Haitian waters, where they will patrol primarily off the coast of Port-au-Prince. Canadians can be forgiven if they are not up to speed on the worsening crisis in Haiti. What with the war in Ukraine, the tragic earthquake in Turkey, and the farcical panic in the media over alleged Chinese spy balloons, Haiti’s woes have not exactly been front page news. To summarize briefly, for years, Haiti has been gripped by an ongoing political and humanitarian crisis. The power vacuum among the political leadership has devolved into a situation where Haiti is considered a failed state. Criminal gangs control much of the country, and armed clashes with police and security forces are a common occurrence. Haitian gang members have murdered up to 15 police officers in the past two weeks alone. The Haitian police have in turn staged their own violent protests, attacking the private residence of acting Prime Minister Ariel Henry, whom they accuse of being connected to the criminal gangs. For his part, Henry was named to this post in July 2021 by then-president Jovenel Moïse. However, Moise was assassinated on July 7, 2021. Then, before Henry could be inaugurated, former prime minister Claude Joseph seized the office for himself. Although international pressure would force Joseph to step aside in favour of Henry, the Haitian parliament never confirmed Henry as the prime minister. Haiti’s last parliamentary elections were in 2015, and the results were deemed to be marked by significant fraud. Thus, the power vacuum created in the wake of Moïse’s assassination has emboldened the criminal gangs. The result has been tremendous surge in killings, rapes, and kidnappings. In the past year, reported killings in Haiti increased by 35 per cent to 2,183 victims, and the number of reported kidnappings doubled to 1,359 victims. Up until recently, the gangs were small and localized. In addition to theft, racketeering, and the drug trade, these gangs also terrorize civilians with sexual violence. However, in recent weeks it has been reported that numerous small gangs have began organizing into two large rival coalitions. In addition to clashing with security forces, these two coalitions battle each other in turf wars. The violence is estimated to have resulted in the death of at least 500 bystanders. The most notorious gang leader is a thug who goes by the moniker Jimmy “Barbecue” Chérizer—a former police officer. The international community is well aware of the violent anarchy raging in Haiti. However, even after Henry appealed to the United Nations Security Council for an international military intervention last October, countries have been reluctant to mount such a mission. The reason for this is that the risk will be high and the chances for long-term success are practically nil until Haiti can resolve its political turmoil. Sure, UN peacekeepers could battle their way into Haiti against the gangs to defend key installations, such as port facilities, but to what end? Over the past six months, Canada has been furnishing Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) armoured vehicles to the Haitian police, with another delivery of three MRAPs announced on Feb 16. This is the same Haitian police force that just stormed the personal residence of Henry—whom they claim is in collusion with the gangs. While it is hard to identify exactly who are the good guys at present in Haiti, the idea of giving a police force armoured vehicles to combat criminal gangs that terrorize and rape civilians, seems at least noble in its concept. On the other hand, given that the crisis in Haiti is violent anarchy on the streets, dispatching two tiny Navy patrol vessels to sit off the coast of that island nation makes absolutely no sense to me. I would label it a meaningless token gesture, but since there will be two MCDVs, let’s call it two meaningless token gestures. Scott Taylor is the editor and publisher of Esprit de Corps magazine. The Hill Times