By Travis Ross, CHIP co-editor, May 14, 2016
Haiti solidarity activists based in Montreal and Ottawa have written an open letter to Prime Minister Trudeau. The ad-hoc committee of community leaders, journalists, activists, lawyers, and other Canadian citizens are demanding that he fulfill the government's pledge to to “refocus Canada's development assistance on helping the poorest and most vulnerable,” which is part of the Trudeau's government's new mandate.
Their main demand is to take the "first step in fulfilling the pledge be to ensure a more principled, accountable response by the UN to the poor and vulnerable victims of the UN cholera in Haiti." The United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) is the source of the deadly cholera epidemic in Haiti.
Cholera has already killed over 9 200 Haitians and sickened over 770 000 since the UN occupation force introduced it to Haiti in October 2010. Between January and March 2016, more than 6 000 people have been hospitalized, and cholera deaths are up by 43% over the same period in 2015.
The ad-hoc committee is calling on Canadians to sign their open letter to Prime-Minister Trudeau.
The letter can be read here in English. A French translation is also available here.
To sign the letter please follow this link. The letter will remain open to sign until Monday, May 30, 2016.
For more information contact:
1- Frantz Voltaire
Director General of "Le Centre International de Documentation et d'Information Haïtienne, Caribéenne et Afro-canadienne" (CIDIHCA)
Téléphone : 514 845-0880
2- Junia Barreau
T:514 473-6141
3- Serge Bouchereau
Head of the Non-Status Action Committee
T:514 383-8281