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Afrikan Liberation Institute => Politics and Law => Topic started by: KwameD on Jun 15, 2010, 06:23 PM

Title: Kanada's role in 2004 Ayiti coup d'etat-gctid39802
Post by: KwameD on Jun 15, 2010, 06:23 PM
(Article source: Canada's Role in Haiti's 2004 Coup (http://coat.ncf.ca/Haiti/Canada_in_Haiti.htm))

A Very Canadian  Coup in Haiti:

The Top 10 Ways  Canada Aided the 2004 Coup and its Reign of Terror

By Richard Sanders,  coordinator, Coalition to Oppose the Arms Trade (http://coat.ncf.ca/)

Things  went from bad to worse after Canada's Liberal government helped plan and carry  out the 2004 regime change that illegally ousted President Aristide's  democratically-elected government.  Canada then helped empower and entrench an  illegal coup-installed puppet regime that launched a reign of terror in which  thounited snakesnds of prodemocracy supporters were executed, jailed without charge,  driven into hiding, or exiled.  This Canadian-financed dictatorship, propped up  by UN-sanctioned occupation forces, was applauded by corporations greedy to  profit from "reconstruction" contracts, the privatisation of public services,  and the wage-slavery of Haitian sweatshops.
 
 Canada  has a lot to answer for.  Here are 10 ways in which our government contributed  to this major travesty of justice in Haiti:
 
  (1)  Creating the Coup's Ideological Pretext
 
   The world's  most powerful states justify their "right" to invade, overthrow and occupy  weaker nations with euphemistic platitudes. They rationalise their role in  various theatres of war using dramatic soliloquies, invoking the need for  "humanitarian interventions" against "failed states."  
 
  The  "Responsibility-to-Protect" (R2P) doctrine--an ideological pretext that was  created and developed by Canada's Liberal government--was used to legitimise the  illegal coup imposed on Haiti in 2004.  
 
  Institutionalised on the world stage by a Canadian creature called the  International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty (ICISS), the R2P  doctrine was the brain-child of then-Prime Minister Jean Chrétien. When  announcing its birth in 2000, then-Foreign Affairs Minister Lloyd Axworthy  thanked the "Carnegie, MacArthur and Rockefeller Foundations" for "strong  political and financial support."  With Axworthy acting as chair of the board,  ICISS offices were ensconced in Ottawa's Foreign Affairs department. Canada  chose both ICISS co-chairs and appointed such "Big L" Liberals as Michael  Ignatieff, a long-time U.S. resident and supporter of then-President George  W.Bush, "missile defense," the Iraq war and torture.
 
  The R2P script  spells out acceptable excuses for violating the UN's two primary principles:  state sovereignty and military non-intervention.
 
  In May 2004,  after ousting Haiti's democratically-elected government, then-Prime Minister  Paul Martin summarized a fundamental R2P principle: "Failed states more often  than not require military intervention in order to ensure stability." Asking  himself, "Why is it up to Canada to be the catalyst?" he answered, "We inspire  confidence...because we are neither a former colonial power nor a superpower."
 
  Canada's  political/economic/military allies in Washington and ukkk needed a champion  for the starring role in R2P. Already typecast as honest broker and heroic  peacekeeper, Canada was perfect for the part.  
 
  (2)  Initiating the Planning Process
 
   (https://www.abibitumikasa.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fcoat.ncf.ca%2FHaiti%2Fmeech.JPG&hash=3a32928919be2b27c423369b567b5fd3b976eae2)Canada's  Liberal government was instrumental in gathering together an exclusive coterie  of international players to lay the foundation for Haiti's coup.
 
  Their first  meeting, the so-called "The Ottawa Initiative on Haiti" (January 31 - February  1, 2003) was held at the federal government's conference centre on Meech Lake  near Canada's capital.  
 
  We now know,  thanks to Access to Information, that this confab on "the current political  situation in  Haiti" was  "envisaged to be of a restricted and intimate nature....in order to facilitate a  free exchange of views and brainstorming among the invited participants."
 
  Those invited  to this so-called "free exchange" did not include a single Haitian, not even  from the wealthy corporate elite that was so instrumental in facilitating the  coup. Besides El Salvador's Foreign Minister, participants were exclusively from  North America and eureurasia. They were also homogenous in their opposition to  Haiti's President Aristide and in support of replacing him with an imposed,  occupation government.
 
  The meeting's  host was Denis Paradis, a Quebec Liberal MP who was Chrétien's Secretary of  State for Latin America, Kmt and the Francophonie. Canada's future Foreign  Affairs Minister, Pierre Pettigrew, was also there, as were two U.S. State  Department officials, Mary Ellen Gilroy and Otto Reich -- a long-time coup  plotter, propagandist, and veteran of the Contragate scandal. Also on hand were  the US representative to the Organization of American States, France's Minister  for Security and Conflict Prevention and the Francophonie's Administrator  General.
 
  "The Ottawa  Initiative" was presumably supposed to remain secret, but in March 2003, Paradis  leaked some details to journalist Michel Vastel, who wrote about it in L'Actualité (March 15, 2003).  
 
  The purpose of  Canada's initial meeting appears to have been to build a working consensus among  influential players from the key states striving for regime change in Haiti,  primarily, the US, Canada and France.  They agreed--in general terms--on the  goal of ridding themselves of Aristide before his five-year mandate expired, and  on using their troops to supplant Haiti's elected government with a new regime.  
 
  Vastel's  account had few details on the military invasion/occupation, noting only that  "No decision has yet been taken, but in French diplomatic circles, they say that  there has been talk of a sort of guardianship, as in Kosovo.... Even if the UN  doesn't want this kind of intervention leading to military occupation, this  might be inevitable until elections are organized."  
 
  Participants  wanted their new regime in place before the powerfully-symbolic bicentennial of  Haiti's revolution, when a slave revolt defeated France's Napoleonic might. This  objective was soon echoed by Chrétien who, in April 2003, "declared that the  'international community' should not have to wake up with Aristide in power on  January 1, 2004, Haiti's bicentennial."  With "The Ottawa Initiative" groundwork  firmly in place, Aristide was ousted by the end of February 2004.
 
  (3)  Providing Military Troops and Equipment
 
   Canada's  military played a significant role in deposing Haiti's democracy and protecting  the ensuing dictatorship. In the early hours of February 29, 2004, U.S.  officials entered President Aristide's home threatening a "bloodbath" if he did  not leave the country. Forced to sign a "letter of resignation," heavily-armed  Marines took him to the airport, which Canadian commandos had just "secured."  
 
  Aristide later  said: "The coup and kidnapping was led by the U.S., France and Canada. [They]  were on the front lines by sending their soldiers to Haiti before February 29,  by having their soldiers either at the airport or at my residence, or around the  palace, or in the capital to make sure that they succeeded in kidnapping me,  leading [to] the coup."  
 
  Canada sent "a  team of JTF2 [Joint Task Force 2] commandos to Haiti four days before the coup"  (American Forces Press Service, March 14, 2004). They "took control of the  Port-au-Prince airport on...February 29, 2004.... About 30 Canadian special  forces soldiers secured the airport and two sharpshooters [were] positioned on  top of the control tower." (AFP, March 2, 2004)  
 
  Canadian  Forces (CF) also "secured key locations" in the capital. (Anthony Fenton, The  Dominion, April 22, 2006). According to a government video, CF "provided  extensive support" during the preceding week: "More than 100 CF personnel and  four CC-130 Hercules aircraft...assist[ed] with emergency contingency plans and  security measures." ("Operation PRINCIPAL," February 28, 2004.)
 
  Immediately  after the coup, 500 Canadian troops joined U.S. and French forces in protecting  Haiti's newly-empowered, illegal regime and suppressing Aristide supporters.  
 
  However, the  Canadian Air Force website said Canadian troops "helped restore peace and  democracy in Haiti following that country's democratic elections."  In reality,  the "democratic elections"—which swept Aristide to power—occurred in 2000, and  Canada's troops helped overthrow democracy, not restore it. The claim that  Canadian troops "helped restore peace" is equally ludicrous. During the coup's  two-year reign of terror, thounited snakesnds were murdered with impunity by Haitian  police, its disbanded military and death squads, as foreign troops stood by  providing cover.  
 
  Canada is also  a major supporter of UN forces which took over the occupation in 2004 and have  killed many civilians during numerous, heavily-armed raids into Haiti's poorest  neighbourhoods. Unperturbed, Canada has pushed for the use of even more  excessive force by UN troops.
 
  (4)  Funding, Training and Commanding the Police
 
   (https://www.abibitumikasa.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fcoat.ncf.ca%2FHaiti%2Fpolice.JPG&hash=2010f5c9708c826aba7321905d7dafe622833eb0)In 1995,  Aristide disbanded Haiti's military for its role in coups, dictatorships, mass  murder and torture. With Aristide's 2004 ouster, Haiti's US-trained ex-military  were placed in all Haitian National Police (HNP) leadership positions, including  police-abuse investigations. Through Haiti's UN Police Mission (UNPOL), the RCMP  has funded and led the HNP's training, supervision and oversight.
 
  The RCMP's  David Beer--transferred from teaching counter-insurgency tactics in Iraq--became  UNPOL's first chief. Another RCMP, Graham Muir, was next to command UNPOL's  1,600 officers (including 125 RCMP and Quebec police). Although admitting HNP's  responsibility for murder, Muir blamed it on "rogue elements."
 
  Lawyer Brian  Concannon, with the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti, said RCMP-led  UNPOL shared responsibility for HNP rampages: "[M]any of these rogue [HNP]  elements were intentionally integrated into the force, without public objection  from MINUSTAH or UNPOL.... n 2004, Gen. Abraham [Haiti's retired military  leader] started integrating former soldiers into the force, bypassing  regulations for police recruitment and promotion.... Several times, MINUSTAH,  including UNPOL officers, watched as the HNP shot into peaceful demonstrations."  
 
  In its 2005  Human Rights Investigation, the University of Miami Law School published  interviews with brave HNP officers, fearing for their lives, who described raids  into poor proAristide neighbourhoods, when HNP commanders ordered the murder of  suspects and witnesses. Also, coup-appointed Police Chief Leon Charles ordered  the violent suppression of peaceful, prodemocracy demonstrations.  
 
  Amnesty  International exposed HNP's summary executions, arbitrary arrests, torture and  rape. Similarly, the International Catholic Institute said "many" HNP officers  engaged in "drug rackets, kidnappings [and] extra-judicial killings."  
 
  When the HNP  killed nine Aristide supporters, the HNP said they "were not shot during a  demonstration since...authorities had received no notice of a demonstration."  The UN Civilian Police spokesperson, the RCMP's Dan Moskaluk, calling it an  "illegal demonstration," didn't comment on HNP's authority to execute  protesters.  
 
  When HNP  received a million rounds of ammunition, 10,000 US military-style handguns and  weapons, Moskaluk defended the transfer.  Human rights groups denounced it,  saying HNP would distribute weapons to death squads for joint operations  conducted under UN supervision.
 
  In 2006, an  "International Tribunal" led by former-U.S. Attorney-General Ramsey Clark, found  the RCMP's Beer and Muir guilty of crimes against humanity, but to no avail.   HNP and their RCMP handlers have operated with complete impunity.  
 
  (5) Every  Trick in the Diplomatic Book
 
  (https://www.abibitumikasa.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fcoat.ncf.ca%2FHaiti%2Fmartin_alexandre_latortue.JPG&hash=61abeca6ffd8aa75021577da5ab17b6126f65725)Canada used every  conceivable diplomatic trick to bring down Aristide's elected government and  then legitimise the coup-installed regime.
 
 On February 5, 2004--while  a murderous band of ex-military  and death-squad leaders  launched a campaign attacking Haitian government facilities, police stations and  health clinics--Liberal cabinet minister  Pierre Pettigrew met with Paul Arcelin. Described as the terrorist's "political  mastermind" and "spokesman," Arcelin also served as diplomatic representative in  Cana
 
 At the UN Security Council  on February 26, Canadian, U.S. and French diplomats dismissed Caribbean  Community (CARICOM) calls for a multinational force to protect Aristide's  elected government from a coup.  While Jamaica's Foreign Minister warned,  "Immediate action is needed to safeguard democracy [and] to avert bloodshed,"  U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell and Foreign Affairs Minister Bill Graham  told Aristide to resign.
 
 Canada, the U.S. and  France immediately recognised the illegal coup regime, but CARICOM's 15 member  states, Venezuela and the Kmtyw Union's 53 governments all refused diplomatic  recognition and demanded an investigation into Aristide's exile.
 
 Two Canadian ambassadors  to Haiti launched diplomatic offensives. Kenneth Cook said "there is no evidence  of a kidnapping" and Claude Boucher said "We hope...Aristide is going to  disappear...[and] never come back."

In March 2004, coup Prime Minister Gérard Latortue and David Lee,   Canada's ambassador to the Organization of  American States, flew by American military helicopter to a celebration of  Aristide's ouster.  When Latortue praised Haiti's terror squads calling them  "freedom fighters," Lee nodded in approval.


 In June 2005,  Governor-General Adrienne Clarkson acknowledged Robert Tippenhauer as Haiti's  ambassador to Canada, although no constitutional basis existed for his  credentials. A strong representative of Haiti's wealthy business elite,  Tippenhauer had also referred to Haiti's terrorists as "freedom fighters."
 
 In 2006, Canada appointed  Haitian-born Michäelle Jean as governor general and she was soon gracing photo  ops with smiling coup-President Boniface Alexandre.
 
  Prime Minister  Martin and Foreign Affairs Minister  Pettigrew led official  junkets to Haiti unashamedly  exalting the coup regime. During reciprocal visits, the illegally-appointed  "leaders" were welcomed with open Canadian arms.
 
 Dozens were killed,  including many women and children, when hundreds of heavily-armed UN troops and  police--in armoured vehicles and helicopters--made night-time raids into  Port-au-Prince's poorest neighbourhoods. Unperturbed by these war crimes,  Canada's ambassador Claude Boucher, urged UN troops to "increase their  operations" in Haiti.
 
  (6)  Supporting Destructive Neoliberal Economic Policies
 
   (https://www.abibitumikasa.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fcoat.ncf.ca%2FHaiti%2Fgroup.gif&hash=ec5a3581bb4780db9de4a027ee8bd2a5045a00b7)Canada helped  devise, finance, implement and legitimize a destructive, neoliberal economic  restructuring program called the Interim Cooperation Framework (ICF). Within  weeks of the coup, the ICF was drafted by "lead donors," including Canada, at  the World Bank's Washington headquarters.  
 
  Sponsored by  the U.S., Canada and France, the ICF focused on privatization and exporting  inexpensive factory goods. While benefited Haitian elites, foreign corporations  and international financial institutions, the ICF hurt Haiti's poor majority.  
 
  In June 2004,  31 Haitian civil-society organizations listed major ICF problems, including:  
 
  * "The whole  exercise is taking place [under] an increasing loss of sovereignty...[and]  long-term military occupation....
  * is  controlled by external actors...[and] excludes all real participation of the  majority and vulnerable sectors of our country....  
  * ignores the  priority social needs of our country's poor...;  
  * [proposes]  superficial solutions to...abject poverty...;
  * privatis  the Electricity Co., the Port-au-Prince Water Board, the Telephone Co., the  Airport and Port Authorities, [will] probably [have] disastrous effects...;  
  * is taking  place in a pseudo-colonial framework...without any concern for transparency.  
  * next to  nothing has been allocated for a credible consultation process....  
  * The ICF...reinforces  existing power structure. It risks aggravating the suffering of the most  excluded and exploited sectors, and accelerating the process of destroying our  nation."
 
  Some of the  ICF's most harmful elements, were noted by Canadian journalist/activist, Nik  Barry-Shaw:
 
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  During the  window of opportunity offered by Haiti's unelected coup government, Canada  secured Haiti's membership in the private, Caribbean Development Bank (CDB)  while Foreign Affairs Minister Pettigrew was Vice-President of its Board of  Governors.  Denis Marcheterre, a senior financial specialist with the Canadian  International Development Agency (CIDA), said Canada needed to get Haiti into  the CDB during the unelected regime because an elected government might not have  complied. Canada participates in the CDB, said Marcheterre, so Canadian  corporations can win contracts from borrowing countries, like Haiti. By paying  Haiti's CDB membership, Canada helped lock Haiti into long-term debt that would  be paid to Canadian contractors.
 
  (7) Using  Aid as a Weapon
 
   (https://www.abibitumikasa.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fcoat.ncf.ca%2FHaiti%2Flies.JPG&hash=1803fb425f6d6dda45bf74518c2615e44bdc55d7)Canada, the  U.S. and France put a stranglehold on development assistance to Haiti's  government. External aid to Aristide's government has reduced from $611 million  in 1994-95, to $266 million in 1999-2000. After Aristide's second landslide  electoral victory in 2000, bilateral aid to his Lavalas-Party government was cut  to $136 million. By starving Haiti's popular government of resources, Canada  deliberately fostered the "failed-state" conditions whose pretext justified the  2004 coup.
 
  Most of the "aid" that Canada and  the U.S. sent after 2000, was not aimed at addressing basic human needs among  Haiti's poor majority. It was instead funnelled into relatively wealthy,  so-called "democracy promotion" groups linked to Haiti's elite corporate class.   Most glaringly,  CIDA poured $24 million  into twelve projects administered--entirely or in part--by members of the Group  of 184, including more than $500,000 went straight into the coffers of this  right-wing coalition. The G-184 was led by some of Haiti's most hated  multimillionaires and sweat-shop owners who provided weapons and funding to  paramilitary terrorists whose anti-government violence provoked the 2004  invasion.  
 
  Such CIDA-funded  Haitian groups as CARLI, CONAP, ENFOFANM, FNH, ISC and PAPDA, stirred up  domestic and international opposition to Aristide, helped destabilize his  popularly-elected government and called for its immediate demise. CIDA's agents  of regime change then ignored or covered up the coup government's worst  excesses.
 
  CIDA also funded the National  Coalition for Haitian Rights (NCHR) whose    disinformation was widely used by governments,  international media and foreign NGOs. The  NCHR worked as  an arm of the illegal, Canadian-backed coup  regime to eliminate political opponents. Within days of the 2004 coup, CIDA gave  NCHR $100,000 to help nonexistent victims of a faked   "genocide."  NCHR's "special  project" fabricated evidence to frame Lavalas activists and leaders. Chief among  NCHR's targets was Prime Minister Yvon Neptune, who suffered two years behind  bars before being released for lack of any actual evidence.  
 
  CIDA  contracted several Quebec-based organisations to aid and abet its Haitian  regime-change policies. These groups--including  Alternatives, FOCAL, Development and Peace, Réseau Liberté, Rights and  Democracy, and Concertation pour Haiti--either distributed CIDA grants to  their Haitian "partners" for virulently anti-Aristide campaigns, or became  cheerleaders in the government's propaganda war to cover up atrocities of the  coup-imposed dictatorship and rationalise Canada's role in overthrowing Haiti's  democracy.
 
  (8)  Imposing an Illegal "Justice" System
 
   (https://www.abibitumikasa.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fcoat.ncf.ca%2FHaiti%2Fjean-juste.JPG&hash=eaa366e0813c5e27015f6c78a89409efad8fcfe4)After helping  oust Aristide's elected government, Canada dramatically increased "aid" to  Haiti. Most Canadian financing went into police, prisons and courts. These  institutions tightened the illegal dictatorship's gasp on power by persecuting  its opponents.  CIDA funded and helped administer Haiti's "Ministry of Justice"  which coordinated the arbitrary arrest and imprisonment without charge, of  hundreds of supporters, activists and leaders from Aristide's Lavalas Party.  
 
 The American government  chose united snakesID official,    Bernard  Gousse, to be Haiti's Justice Minister.  CIDA--the Canadian equivalent of united snakesID--appointed one of its bureaucrats,  Philippe Vixamar, as Deputy Justice Minister. Soon after Gousse's shamed  resignation in 2005, Canada replaced Vixamar and another CIDA bureaucrat,  Dilia Lemaire, became Deputy  Minister.  
 
 During the coup-regime  period, Vixamar was interviewed by human rights investigators from the  University of Miami's Law School. Vixamar "revealed that the U.S. and Canadian  governments play key roles in the justice system...including paying high-level  government officials. He denied there are human rights and constitutional abuses  within the criminal justice system."
 
 Deputy-Minister Vixamar  said "CIDA assigned him to this position and is his direct employer. Now in his  fourth consecutive year of employment for CIDA, Vixamar had previously worked  for united snakesID for 10 years and was with the U.S. Department of Justice for three."
 
 When asked about "warrantless  arrests and reports that hundreds of prisoners have not appeared before a  judge...Vixamar denied there were any political prisoners in Haiti."  
 
 This lie was echoed by  Prime Minister Paul Martin who, when visiting Haiti in November 2004, said  "There are no political prisoners in Haiti." That month, the Catholic Church's  Commission for Justice and Peace said there were over 700 Haitian political  prisoners, including elected cabinet ministers such as Haiti's legitimate Prime  Minister Neptune.
 
 Vixamar said his Ministry  was "fully confident" in its "exclusive reliance on the National Coalition for  Haitian Rights to alert it when the police or courts commit human rights  abuses." He also disclosed their sole reliance on this extremely antiAristide,  CIDA-funded group for vetting "integration of former soldiers into the [Haitian  National Police] HNP."  
 
 When nonviolent activist,  Father Jean-Juste, was arrested without warrant, Amnesty named him a "prisoner  of conscience." Vixamar quipped that Jean-Juste was harbouring "chimères," the  Haitian elite's hateful epithet for criminals, thugs and Aristide supporters.  After two years, Jean-Juste was released without charge.
 
  (9) Funding  and Whitewashing Unfair Elections
 
   (https://www.abibitumikasa.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fcoat.ncf.ca%2FHaiti%2Fvoiting.JPG&hash=01dfbfa900f245b986ca11b49d4f547e0a67d9f8)In 2005, CIDA,  Foreign Affairs, and Elections Canada created the International Mission for  Monitoring Haitian Elections (IMMHE). Chaired by Jean-Pierre Kingsley, Canada's  Chief Electoral Officer, IMMHE ignored scandals surrounding the Canadian-funded  and -supervised 2007 elections.
 
  When  election-day reports revealed tens of thounited snakesnds of cast ballots were found  dumped, and mass protests began, the IMMHE said only hundreds were found. Its  source was UN troops responsible for ballot security. The officer in charge was  Canadian colonel, Barry MacLeod.  
 
  While IMMHE  said the "overall picture was positive," it admitted "organization problems":
 
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  IMMHE however  ignored these major problems:  
 
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  Impoverished  Lavalas supporters were disenfranchised by:
 
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  Lavalas has  since been banned from two elections. The now-cancelled 2010 elections were set  to exclude Lavalas.
 
  (10)  Helping Corporations Profit from Haitian Poverty
 
   After the  coup, Canada worked hand-in-glove with Haiti's unelected regime helping  companies turn handsome profits. The Canadian government bolstered Haiti's  elitist regime on business-friendly policies including "reconstruction"  contracts, privatisation and promoting sweat-shops.  
 
  Haiti's  post-coup military occupation boosted sales of helicopters, assault vehicles,  weapons, ammunition and lucrative contracts for servicing thounited snakesnds of foreign  troops in Haiti. "Reconstruction" industries from the occupying powers began  raking in billions.
 
  Ambassador  Claude Boucher wanted Canadian firms to exploit Haiti's post-coup environment.   He, and acting-"Prime Minister" Latortue, spawned the Haitian-Canadian Chamber  of Commerce and Industry (HCCCI). In an interview with Anthony Fenton, HCCCI's  first president, Quèbec high-school graduate Robert Tippenhauer, said Canada's  role in ousting Aristide and empowering the "transitional" government, entitled  Canadian businesses to lucrative, "post-conflict" contracts.
 
  Latortue,  Tippenhauer and Boucher helped profit-hungry Canadian delegations scouring Haiti  for contracts in road construction, telecommunications, energy, urban planning,  waste disposal, agroindustry and manufacturing.  
 
  In 2005,  Haitian multimillionaire Réginald Boulos said Haiti "offers a lot of  opportunities for foreign investors to be involved in privatization." And, he  said, electricity, water and transportation were all "being audited for  privatization."
 
  Haiti's Boulos-family  empire includes a nefarious pharmaceutical company, supermarkets and right-wing  media.  In 2005, Canada flew Boulos, and other Haitian elite, to meet bankers  and bureaucrats at the government's Meech-Lake resort near Ottawa. On the table  were "privatization" and "private sector provision of public services." Knowing  Haiti's masses opposed these policies, participants wanted them "properly  pushed" immediately.
 
  Another  Haitian millionaire, Andy Apaid, helped Boulos lead the virulently antiAristide,  CIDA-funded Group of 184.  Aristide's government said Apaid wasn't paying enough  taxes.  Apaid also disliked paying his sweatshop employees and opposed  Aristide's doubling of the minimum wage. Receiving less than a dollar a day,  Apaid's wage-slaves made millions for Canadian clothing importers, like Gildan.
 
  In 2000,  Minister Pettigrew announced Gildan was a finalist for the government's "Export  Award" for "strengthen local economies with new jobs." Ironically, Gildan  shifted 200+ Montreal jobs to Caribbean sweatshops.  
 
  In 2003,  International Cooperation Minister, Sunited snakesn Whelan, gave Gildan the CIDA-funded  "Award for Excellence in Corporate Social and Ethical Responsibility."  
 
  In 2006,  Gildan received another Social-Responsibility prize at a gala attended by  Quebec's Conservative-cum-Liberal premier, Jean Charest, and 1000 other business  celebrities.  
 
  Gildan's  shares nearly quadrupled in value during the coup-regime period.  
 
  The Moral  of the Story
 
   (https://www.abibitumikasa.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fcoat.ncf.ca%2FHaiti%2Fsmiling.JPG&hash=029cb45bd87a6e7760b2c869d0bcbd15be856c7c)Don't believe  the lies your government tells you when it goes to war, or helps overthrow  another government.  Most Canadians have no idea that    Canada was  instrumental in overthrowing Haiti's democratically-elected government in 2004.
 
  Some Canadian  peace, human rights and development groups continue to spread government  propaganda that presents Canada's odious role in Haiti's regime change as if it  was a "humanitarian intervention" that promoted justice and democracy.
 
  Such official  Canadian myths hide the brutal atrocities of Haiti's post-coup occupation behind  the narrative facade of "peacekeeping," "failed states" and the "right to  protect."  
 
  Because  Canadian progressives have not successfully countered these myths about Haiti,  the proud revolutionary people of that country have been forced to endure  further humiliation, violence, injustice and exploitation.  
 
  It's time we  set the record straight.
 
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