In the immediate aftermath of the Haiti earthquake, there was a certain voice Canadians waited to hear. Michaelle Jean is Canada's governor-general, and she was born in Port au Prince and spent her early years in Haiti before her family fled to Canada. Her father, a philosopher, was tortured and imprisoned under the Papa Doc Duvalier regime. The 52-year-old Jean and her husband, a Quebec film-maker, have one child, an adopted Haitian orphan, Marie-Eden. Her mother and family come from Jacmel, near the epicenter of the deadly tremor.
So, when the earthquake happened, Canadians knew full well the woman at the symbolic helm of the country had been touched deeply and personally by the disaster. When she did speak the day after, it was with the type of emotion and pain that public figures are rarely called upon to express. One almost could feel the nation's heart go out to Jean and the country of her birth. She spoke of having visited Haiti only a year ago and witnessing "a glimmer of hope" for the rebuilding of the country in the wake of hurricane Gustav's devastation. And now this.
This week, the Canadian government issued the latest tally of its relief efforts for Haiti. As of this writing, individual Canadians have contributed some $113 million, each dollar of which the federal government has promised to match; it had initially put a $50 million cap on the matching money, but that went out the window the night of the big TV fundraisers on Jan. 15. Government officials were calling for a final push before today's cutoff date. About another $135 million in government money has gone to other direct relief efforts, plus whatever costs are associated with military deployments involving the army, navy and air force. On top of that are some 2,000 Canadian medical workers, security and rebuilding specialists who have flocked to the country.
Even before the disaster, Haiti was the target of the most development aid Canada channels to any individual country after Afghanistan. In 2008, the federal government announced a five-year $555 million plan to fund projects to help improve services in Haiti. Among the projects are road building, school nutrition, tuition-fee credits and, ironically, disaster preparedness.
While Canadians already may enjoy a reputation for helping those in need around the world, the Haiti situation is probably a special case. It's not just the governor-general who brings the country closer to Haiti. Canada, and particularly French-speaking Quebec, has long-standing links with the Caribbean country, dating back to when Quebec missionary orders were a strong presence in the country.
Just one example is George Anglade and his wife. They were among the 27 Canadians confirmed dead in the earthquake, with another 73 still unaccounted for. Anglade, a professor of social geography by trade, had been imprisoned under the Duvaliers, and since their overthrow had served as a minister in governments struggling to bring reform and democracy to Haiti. In Canada, he helped found a university in Montreal and had become an international crusader for freedom of the press and human rights.
Anglade was part of the large Haitian community in Montreal, the third-highest concentration of Haitian immigrants outside Miami and New York, about 130,000. It is Montreal that has become the focus of much of the earthquake relief and reconstruction efforts. Less than a week after the January 12 devastation, world leaders, including Hillary Clinton, gathered there to begin to map out a plan to help Haiti recover and perhaps, despite the enormous loss of humanity and property, emerge with a more stable economic and social base.
In the same spirit, the International Red Cross and Red Crescent held a summit in Montreal this week, with representatives from 23 countries, to develop a strategy to target relief efforts. With the hurricane season coming in May, officials say there is an extra urgency to relief efforts. A Canadian, Red Cross veteran Marcel Fortier, has been named to head up the international Red Cross effort, on the ground in Haiti.
Whether it is the special bond among francophone people, or a country-wide empathy with the struggle of Haitians, Canadians seem to have responded to the earthquake disaster with uncommon generosity.
Peter Black, is a radio broadcaster and writer based in Quebec City. He has worked on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, in Montreal as a newspaper reporter and editor, and as a translator and freelance writer.
