The Royal Canadian Navy will send ships to Haiti in the coming weeks to conduct surveillance and gather intelligence, Canada Prime Minister Justin Trudeau stated Thursday during a gathering of Caribbean leaders.
The action comes shortly after a surveillance plane from the Canadian Armed Forces returned from a similar mission in Haiti, which is dealing with an increase in murders, rapes, and kidnappings that are being attributed to gangs that have grown more potent since President Jovenel Moise was assassinated in July 2021.
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During a Caricom gathering in The Bahamas, where leaders of the 15-member trade group were present, Trudeau stated, “Right now, Haiti is confronted with unrelenting gang violence, political turmoil, and corruption.”
Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry was also present at the conference, having sought the quick deployment of foreign soldiers in October, a request that the UN Security Council has yet to answer.
Trudeau said, “Now is the moment to come together to confront the severity of this situation,” adding that Canada and Haiti’s neighbors must work on long-term fixes to assist restore law and order, permit the delivery of critical relief, and provide the prerequisites for free and fair elections.
In order to safeguard Haitian women and children near the border with the Dominican Republic, which had deported tens of thousands of Haitian migrants and people of Haitian descent in the previous year, Trudeau also declared that his government will commit an additional US$12.3 million in humanitarian aid and an additional US$10 million to support the International Office on Migration.
Trudeau added, “The toll of human suffering in Haiti weighs heavily on me.”
Henry told reporters that he urgently wants Haiti to undertake elections despite the escalating instability during a private meeting Trudeau had with him earlier on Thursday.
