Haiti - Doing It Differently

The earthquake that devastated the nation of Haiti last week has dominated the airwaves, thoughts and compassion of millions of Canadians. We reflexively respond with humanitarian aid in ways that speak to the best within us. Yet if we're not careful we might easily slip into giving patterns that assisted in cursing that small country in the first place. First, we need to learn some historical lessons.The small island of some 10 million people has repeatedly suffered from internal corruption, corporate greed, and international bungling in ways that left it the poorest nation in the western hemisphere. Once the wealthiest colony in the New World and the first to abolish slavery, its future seemed secure. Then, with the 20th century, came three decades of American occupation, gross government corruption, natural cataclysms, and HIV on a significant scale.And then there were the policy fiascoes. Haiti and the Dominican Republic share the same island. I recall listening to Al Gore in Montreal a couple of years back when he showed a revealing Powerpoint slide of the middle of the island. Almost as if someone had drawn a literal line down the middle, one side was lush forest and the other side was parched land.  "What's the difference between these two countries?" he asked, to which he then replied "public policy." Alas, Haiti has suffered from bad policy decisions for years and the current environmental devastation provides the clear evidence.President Obama's alacrity towards the earthquake was impressive but based partly upon national guilt. The United States occupied both Haiti and the Dominican Republic, only pulling out of Haiti in 1934. By that time, the tiny nation's once-impressive institutional structure had been left as devastated as the forests are today. To this day, average Haitians still feel their affairs are being directed in Washington - something they felt was confirmed when the American military was granted full power over the airport this past week.Yet Haitians themselves bear much of the responsibility for their tortured past, perhaps best exemplified by "Papa Doc" and "Baby Doc" Duvalier, whose successive reigns left the nation economically devastated. Street gangs emerged as a vital force for corruption and the population continued to elect leaders who ironically drove them into ruin. The country has consistently ranked as one of the most corrupt nations, and in 2006 was listed as the most corrupt of the 163 nations surveyed.The environmental disasters that have repeatedly struck Haiti have been frequent and devastating. Sincere attempts at reform have repeatedly been undermined by one hurricane or earthquake after another. Flooding has also been a major deterrent to progress.So before we rush in with reform packages and international development, it is essential we learn the lessons of the past. And it's surely time, for Haitians themselves are tired of business as usual. They are a remarkable people, as befitting a nation that led the world in the abolition of slavery. They are proud of that fact, as they should be. The spirit of its people, its music, its progressive past, its industriousness - all these form the base upon which we must apply our various levels of intervention.Canada has been a key friend to Haiti in recent years and our moral capital can move mountains where the Americans themselves might be hesitant. Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon's hosting of a rebuilding Haiti conference in Montreal next week is testimony to that fact. But we must get it right this time because the odds against success are great.The next post will offer some solutions for how we should proceed, but for now it's important that we possess a shrewd knowledge of nation restructuring to match our obvious national compassion. If the response to the devastating tsunami is any indication, an outpouring of human largesse acting in isolation can not only squander humanitarian dollars but can actually eclipse the deeper work of rebuilding that must be undertaken. We must do it differently this time.