Haiti at fore as Canada, U.S., Caribbean leaders tackle regional issues
CTV
Top officials from Canada, the U.S. and Haiti met Wednesday behind closed doors to talk about the spiralling chaos in Haiti, a topic expected to dominate an annual Caribbean trade bloc meeting that opened in the Bahamas.
Top officials from Canada, the U.S. and Haiti met Wednesday behind closed doors to talk about the spiralling chaos in Haiti, a topic expected to dominate an annual Caribbean trade bloc meeting that opened in the Bahamas.
The three-day Caricom meeting began Wednesday night, with host Philip Davis, the Bahamian prime minister, welcoming leaders of the 15-member bloc and others, including Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Brian Nichols, the U.S. assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere affairs.
Also attending are Haiti's foreign affairs minister and the acting minister of justice and public security.
A day before the meeting, Davis said at a news conference that Caribbean leaders "do not have the resources to deal with the Haiti problem ourselves, and we do need outside help. And we are looking to the north, Canada and the United States, to come to the fold to help."
Davis and other Caribbean leaders have complained about a surge in migrants that they say is straining the budgets of small islands struggling with the influx of hundreds of Haitians. The vast majority are fleeing deepening poverty and a spike in violence, with killings, kidnappings and rapes rising as gangs grow more powerful following the July 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moise.
At the meeting's opening, Davis said Haiti needs urgent attention as conditions there deteriorate.
"I pray that we can agree on a series of concrete steps to help move towards a solution for the Haitian people and the region as a whole. We have learnt that inaction has its own costs and consequences," he told the other leaders.
