Posts Tagged 'Haiti'

Haiti Five Years On: Canada Loses Interest

McLeod Group Blog, January 19, 2015

 January 12 marked five years since the earthquake that devastated Haiti, killed over 230,000 citizens and rendered over three million people homeless, almost 30% of the country’s population. Since 2010, Haiti has received a great deal of media attention, been the subject of many promises of help (some of which have been honoured). It also experienced two major hurricanes in 2012 as well as an outbreak of cholera, believed to have been introduced by a ...

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Canada and Haiti: What is there to show from the last four years?

March 17, 2014

It is now more than four years since a devastating earthquake struck Haiti, killing over 200,000 and leaving over 3 million homeless. The poorest country in the Western hemisphere, at that point still recovering from hurricanes in 2008, saw the poorest segment of its population affected by an even more severe natural disaster.

The outpouring of sympathy and support from countries in the hemisphere, and beyond, was swift and massive. Governments pledged large amounts and sent relief teams, the ...

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How to Hijack an Aid Program

AN OPEN LETTER TO AUSTRALIAN PRIME MINISTER TONY ABBOTT

from Ian Smillie

October 29, 2013

Dear Tony Abbott,

The day after you led your Liberal/National Coalition to a landslide victory in September, you announced that AusAID, the Australian government’s aid agency, will be integrated into the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT).

Because many have likened this move to what Canada has done in merging CIDA with DFAIT, I thought I might give you some background information on what has happened ...

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The Harper Government’s Foreign Policy Record

October 22, 2013

There has been a lot of noise about a new realism in Canadian foreign policy—principled, not going along just to get along—and it seems a great deal of rushing around the globe by the energetic Minister of Foreign Affairs, John Baird. But what do we have to show for all of this? There has been a flurry of comment in the last few weeks about Mr Harper not addressing the United Nations General Assembly fall session, unlike many ...

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Haiti and Canada: From Bad to Perverse

Jan 10, 2013

Readers of McLeod Group blogs will know that the relationship between Canada and Haiti is an important issue for us.  As we approach the third anniversary of the January 2010 earthquake that killed 225,000 Haitians and made over one million homeless, it is critical to take a look at the Western Hemisphere’s poorest country and largest recipient of Canadian bilateral aid.

Let’s take stock. While most of North America – certainly the media – was fixated on the effects ...

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Haiti: More Announceables

January 3, 2012

It has been two years since the devastating earthquake in Haiti that killed over 300,000 people and left 1.5 million homeless. In January, on the anniversary of the event, Canada’s Minister for International Cooperation, Bev Oda, paid a visit to Port au Prince, with the customary blizzard of press releases.

One is hard-pressed to imagine the joy of Haitians at yet another visit from the Honourable Bev, who has made multiple trips to the country during her tenure ...

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Canada and Haiti: When all is Said and Done, Much More is Being Said than Done

October 15, 2010

There is no question that Haiti is a difficult place for external actors to work. Nation-building has eluded the best, most well-intentioned aid donors for decades. Treating the country as a basket case worth considering only as an international trusteeship candidate is not the path to follow for sustainable development. When disaster strikes Haiti – hurricanes in 2008, an earthquake in January this year – Canada responds, lots of ministerial and media attention (are those related?) and talk ...

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