PANELISTS:
Elaine Brière, filmmaker (Haiti Betrayed)
Jean Saint-Vil, author and activist (Solidarité Québec-Haïti)
Kira Paulemon, scholar
Brian Concannon, Blueprint Project (founder Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti)
HOSTS:
Organizer: The Canadian Foreign Policy Institute
Co-sponsors: Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), Haiti Liberté, Inter Pares
SHARE ON FACEBOOK:
Facebook event.
REVIEWS:
Haitian Lives Matter. This fact has eluded the Canadian media, and the general Canadian population, which prefers to think of itself as, “good guys” when it comes to foreign policy—if they even give foreign policy a second thought. Elaine Briere’s deeply-researched and highly engaging documentary, “Haiti Betrayed” lays bare a hidden history that now—of all times—we all need to pay attention to.
Mark Achbar – The Corporation
This powerful film, with its heart-stopping footage, captures the brutality of what the “advanced” world has done to the people of Haiti since their heroic revolution against slavery. Canada’s shameful role – braying about human rights even as it provides political cover for the US overthrow of Haitian democracy – exposes the lie behind Canada’s good-guy image in the world.
Linda McQuaig – author, The Sport & Prey of Capitalists
The Haitian revolution established the first free country of free men in the Americas, but it drew the bitter hostility of a colonial world that has persisted through Haiti’s tortured history. This evocative film pointing to Canada’s role in the 2004 coup d’état portrays yet another chapter of sordid betrayal. This film should be a call to action.
Noam Chomsky
Haiti Betrayed may be the most important documentary ever made on Canadian foreign policy. It is a powerful indictment of Canada’s role in overthrowing the Jean-Bertrand Aristide/Lavalas democratic government in 2004 and the devastating consequences that decision had on Haitians. Haiti Betrayed also reveals the inhumanity of the Canadian military’s response to the 2010 earthquake and Ottawa’s continued backing of regressive political forces in Haiti. All Canadians should watch this film about a country born in struggle to make Black lives matter.”
Bianca Mugyenyi, Director, Canadian Foreign Policy Institute
“Canada always looks so cute, clean and a non-profit country. Nobody talks about Canada in the international news. This film is so interesting because we can see another Canada.”
Jaume Barrull – Diari Segre, Barcelona
The modus operandi of Canada remains colonial at home and abroad. This film is so important because it pulls the curtain away to show what is going on in a place far from the minds of Canadians – which is where the government would like it to stay.
Henri Robideau – photographer & social commentator
In her new film, Haiti Betrayed, Elaine Brière raises deeply disturbing questions about Canada’s active role and complicity in perpetrating neocolonial injustices over decades in Haiti. Haiti Betrayed is a film that absolutely needs to be seen.
Rita Morbia – Inter Pares
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