Canada has supporting role to help Haiti, but ‘there is no solution from outside’: PM

NEW YORK –

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says a lasting solution to the crisis in Haiti will have to come from within the country.

Trudeau made the comments on his final day at the UN as he sat down with Ariel Henry, Haiti’s embattled acting prime minister.

Trudeau announced an additional $80 million in humanitarian aid and security help for the overmatched Haitian national police.

Canada is also imposing fresh sanctions against three more members of Haiti’s business community, bringing the total to 29 to date.

Trudeau and Bob Rae, Canada’s ambassador to the UN, also presided over an ad hoc advisory group of UN delegates trying to chart a path forward.

The prime minister is scheduled to hold a wrap-up news conference later today before returning to Ottawa.

“Within Haiti, there is no solution to this situation from outside,” he said.

“We have a role to play from outside … but we need to see more dialogue, more consensus-building within Haiti and around the Haitian people.”

Violent gangs have run rampant since the 2021 assassination of president Jovenel Moise, blockading fuel deliveries and terrorizing locals, all in the midst of a cholera outbreak.

Last fall, Henry asked for a military intervention to clear out the gangs and allow for humanitarian aid, ramping up pressure on Canada from the UN and allies like the U.S. to take the lead.

Kenya has since stepped forward to offer to fill that gap, and the U.S. is reportedly set to ask the UN Security Council to approve sending a multinational force into the country.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 21, 2023.