Trudeau says Canadians ‘have to intervene’ in Haiti amid ongoing unrest

Trudeau's comments come as Haitian ambassador to Canada, Wien-Weibert Arthus, faces tough questions regarding his country's request for foreign military intervention.

“The violence orchestrated by armed gangs is blocking the country and plunging millions of Haitians into an acute humanitarian crisis,” Arthus told the House of Commons foreign affairs committee yesterday. “It is a desperate situation for which there must be a solution.”

In the last few months, the beleaguered Caribbean nation has become overrun by heavily armed gangs who have been blocking off access to fuel, drinking water, food, and medicine, plunging the country into its worst humanitarian crisis in decades. A subsequent cholera outbreak exacerbated by power outages and unclean water has further crippled the nation.

The Prime Minister of Haiti, Ariel Henry, has asked for foreign military intervention to restore order and help the country to resume its democratic processes. The widespread organized crime has made it impossible to have a free and fair election. Henry's government has been in charge since the assassination of former president Jovenel Moise in July 2021.

Artus has requested that Canada not only help to stabilize the country, but to also provide aid for infrastructure. He added that they are still not fully recovered from the 2010 earthquake that destroyed huge swaths of the nation, as well as a more powerful earthquake last year. Putting Haitians to work to help fix and rebuild would be beneficial to the nation's future stability.

“In the soul of any Haitian, a foreign force is never welcome in the country,” he added later on in his testimony.

There is widespread support for Canada's help within Haiti, but no agreement as to what exactly that help should look like. Several Canadian MPs have expressed concerns about working with a government that is rampant with corruption and whose legitimacy is highly questioned.

Trudeau said he was aware of the discomfort many Haitians have with foreign military intervention. He told reporters however that "we look at the crisis, rapes, the violence, the poverty, and cholera and health crisis. And then we say to ourselves, we have to intervene in one way or another."

It is widely expected by the United States and the United Nations that Canada will play a key role in any military intervention. Canada’s ambassador to Haiti "said Canada will be expected to take a leading role in assisting the country, as it’s among the most respected nations in Port-au-Prince," the Canadian Press reports.