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[Musique]

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So my name is Jenny-Laure Sully I

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do a lot of things but one of the

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important things I do and that

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is particularly meaningful to me

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is my role in the

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Groupe Solidarité Québec Haïti (Solidarity Coalition Quebec Haiti)

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as an activist 

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for Haitian sovereignty, 

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so activism for the human rights of

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the people of Haiti. I am

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an activist that critizes

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Canada's involvment in Haiti 

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alot and I 

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criticize Canadian foreign policy a lot.

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Which is a policy that is

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imperialist. When we talk about

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imperalistic policy, we, of course,

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are also speaking of a racist policy. 

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Many people do not realise it,

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but there is a link between systemic racism

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and imperialistic policy,  

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as is the case for Canada towards Haiti. 

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So among my group, we do 

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protests, we do meetups 

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to promote popular

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education because a lot of people

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are unaware of what Canada is

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doing in Haiti so we have to inform

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people. Before the pandemic, we were able

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to meet

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in community centers but

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a lot has now changed with the pandemic. We have to 
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partake in virtual conversations. 

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We were able to virtually be in contact

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with activits in Haiti and organise conversations with 

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activists in Haiti 

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using things like 

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Zoom, emails, by

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exchanging on Whatsapp. 

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So things have changed a lot since

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the pandemic. Unfortunately

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the crisis in Haiti is

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Getting worse and Canada continues to, 

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unfortunatly, support an

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oppressive regime in Haiti.

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I am of Haitian origin, 

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so there is a direct link 

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between my involvmenet with Solidarité Quebec-Haiti

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and my identity. 

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Obviously, one must not only be of

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Haitian origin to want to militate for

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Haitian sovereignty and

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to be willing and able to change

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Canadian foreign policy in Haiti.

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I think there is still an activism journy, 

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readings that I have done, and

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I really sought to know more

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and that's what brought me to 

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get involved in Solidarité Québec

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Haïti. 

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But have have to say that my identity as

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the daughter of immigrants,

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of immigrants parents from Haiti,

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my identity as an haitian

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black woman that was in contact

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with other black women from Haiti that

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experienced violence and that went through

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repression, 

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all of that resulted in a heightned

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awareness and realizations. 

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So I realised what wasn't

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working with Haitian foreign policy, 

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because at one point, I

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also decided to go to Haiti. So,

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my parents arrived here when

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I was 12 years old but many years

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later, in 2010, when there

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that the earthquake in Haiti, I felt

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called, like the entire world, by

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what was happening, on the island.

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On that half of the island because Haiti

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shares the island with the

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Dominicain Republic. 

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So when I went in 2010, I went after

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 the earthquake, I met

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people there that were

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wanting to 

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create change. 

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I realised there were a lot of

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NGOs (non-governmental organisations) in Haiti that weren't helping.

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So there was an issue with the international aid

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system which wasn't

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really foreign aid that

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respected Haitian sovereignty.

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So I learned a lot of things and

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when I came back to Canada,

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I got involved in different

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projects to try and help

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the Haitian people, to help

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change the situation (in Haiti). And I realised that

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it wasn't easy. 

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in 2012, I went back to Haiti and

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that time, I had a different perspective.

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A perspective where I told myself that

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small project are something

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and that they can have a positive impact but

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the important thing is to change the system.

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and so this imperialist system that makes it so

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Global North countries hold

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immense power over Global South countries which means that

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 western countries, rich countries

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like Canada, the United States, France...

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will ultimately decide how a country

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like Haiti, or other countries of the

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Carribean region and Latin American,

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how those coutnries will be granted

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access to their own 

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resources. 

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This needs to fundamentally cahnge.

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It is this imperialist system that we need

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to fight against, and this I something I understood.

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In Solidarité Québec-Haiti, what we do 

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is that we ask Canada to 

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remove itself from the Core group which is a group

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that decides politics in Haiti.

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Canada invests,

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the word is invest in the sense that it

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puts money into

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Haitian elections and its a way

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to interfere in Haitian politics.

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So we also denounce Canadian involvmenet

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in Haitian 

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politics. 

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so here you have it. 

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When it comes to systemic racism,

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Solidarité Québec-Haiti has attempted to

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really do popular education

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because when we talk about systemic

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racism, 

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we have to realise that in

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Canadian foreign policy 

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towards a country like Haiti, there are

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practices that are clearly,

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which clearly falls under racism

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that is systemic. 

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We were able to see that when it comes to

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Haiti, that when it comes to other

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countries of the region, the capacity to

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respond to the pandemic was very

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complicated within a political situation

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where rich countries will, for example,

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hoard masks as we saw

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was the case with the United States

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or how rich countries

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pushed for one type of regime, which

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visibly did not have in mind the best interest

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of the population, continue to stay

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in power as was the case in Haiti.

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So truly, by supporting Jovenel Moïse

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and his political regime, 

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Canada makes it extremely difficult,

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if not impossible,for the 

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needs of the population, whether 

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we are talking about the capacity to have a healthcare

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system that works or the capacity

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to respond to the pandemic that

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is adequate.

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But it is not possible in this context 

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where there is this foreign mishandling that

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makes it so a repressive regime

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stays in power. 

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So that's the link to make between

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systemic racism and Canadian politics

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in Haiti. The other link

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that we should be aware of is that police officers

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in Haiti, 

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that shoot protestors and

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people that criticize 

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the corruption, that criticize

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the dictatorship, those police officers have received their

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training from Canada. Canada

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gave the training to the Haitian officers. 

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Canada finances prisons

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in Haiti and continues to finance 

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as much the prisons as

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the police force. 

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So we can see the direct link, in terms

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of systemic racism, between

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what Canada is doing here to Native peoples, for example,

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or with victims of

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police brutality here, 

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but the same thing is happening in Haiti

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when Canada fiannces the police,

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fiancnes repressive 

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politics and finances

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prisons. So there is that link that most

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people don't make, that 

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most people are unware of and we, at 

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Solidarité Québec-Haiti have attempted

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to make this reality known by

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sending emails, organising

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meetings on zoom with

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activists in Haiti, activits in

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New York, with members of the Haitian diaspora

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and with every Quebecer or

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Canadian

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that is interested in changing

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Canadian foreign policy. 

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I believe that academics,

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studnets, have the ability to change

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things. 

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By becoming memebers of Solidarité Québec-

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Haïti, by going to our Facebook page

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to fuel the discussion, by

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making Canadian involvment

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in Haiti known and above all, by

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demanding that Canada withdras from

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the Core group. 

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It needs to become

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a demand that is made by

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students just as much as

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activists just as much as 

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your average men and women in 

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Quebec and Canada. 

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We have to clearly state that we want

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a foreign policy that is not

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racist. 

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We want a foreign policy that is

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respectfu of the sovereignty of countries

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like Haiti et so Canada needs to

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withdraw itself from the Core group and the Lima group.

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The Lima group which is interfering

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in Venezuela. 

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It's a long story but there is

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a link between Venezuela and Haiti that people often

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do not make. 

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Unlike what is happening in Venezuela, Canada

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is attempting to remove the current president. 

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But for Haiti, they are attempting

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to keep him in place but

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the role of Canada is not to decide

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who will and who will not get to 

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gouvern another country. That needs to

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change. That is truly a racist

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policy when we realise that Global North countries

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 are attempting to dictate to

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Global South Countries

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how to govern themselves. That is something

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that students must be

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extremely clear about. 

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Canada must withdraw itself from every

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international organisation that

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interfers with the politics of countries

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with a black majority

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population or where there is poverty. 

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Whether it is NATO,

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the Core group, the 

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Lima group, we want Canada to withdraw itself

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from those imperialistic and racist

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organisations

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[Musique]