‘Catastrophic’: Quebecers worry about family amid crisis in Caribbean country

Members of Quebec's Haitian community are worried as violence in Haiti has escalated in recent weeks. Some fear the country could be on the verge of collapse.

Wedne Colin says he feels like he’s leading a “double life,” living in Montreal but constantly worrying for his family in Haiti.

“It’s like we’re here, but at the same time we’re in Haiti,” he said Monday in an interview. “We can’t get rid of Haiti, Haiti follows us. Haiti sticks to our skin.”

Colin says his family members have had to flee their homes several times to find a place that’s safe from the armed gangs he says have seized control of the capital city of Port-au-Prince. Sometimes, he said, they spend a week sleeping outside with no possessions other than a handful of important documents, like passports.

He said his family lives in fear of violence and kidnapping, noting that some of them received letters demanding they hand over money by a certain date. But, as many times as they leave home, they always end up returning, he said, “because nowhere is safe.”

Colin and Orlando Ceide, who both work at the Maison d’Haiti community centre, are two of the many Haitian Montrealers who are worried about loved ones amid the violent gang attacks that have paralyzed the Haitian capital.

Ceide describes the situation in his home country as “catastrophic.” His own family members in Haiti are relatively safe from violence because they live in a small town away from the capital. But he said the latest crisis is impacting the availability of basic goods and services including food, water and health care.

As a former student activist, he said that if he were still in Haiti he would probably be in the streets protesting. But in Montreal he finds it hard even to talk about the homeland that he misses.

“I have a feeling of helplessness in relation to what’s happening,” he said.