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RESOLUTION NO 250216
REGULAR MEETING OF THE CÔTE SAINT-LUC CITY COUNCIL HELD FEBRUARY 10, 2025
Council members present
Mayor: Mitchell Brownstein, B. Comm., B.D.C., LL.B.
Councillors :
Lior Azerad
Sidney Benizri
Dida Berku, B.C.L
Mike Cohen, B.A.
Steven Erdelyi, B.Sc., B.Ed.
Mitch Kujavsky, B. Comm.
Oren Sebag, B.Sc. RN MBA
Andee Shuster
RESOLUTION CALLING FOR THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY TO DO MORE TO RESTORE PEACE AND SECURITY IN HAITI
WHEREAS Canada is home to one of the largest Haitian diasporas in the world, numbering more than 180,000 persons of whom some 160,000 reside in Quebec, mostly within the Montreal Metropolitan Community;
WHEREAS Jovenel Moïse, the 43rd president of Haiti, was assassinated on July 7, 2021, unleashing a period of violence and instability that has led to thousands of persons being killed as armed gangs have attacked the nation’s democratic infrastructure and taken control of much of Port-Au-Prince, the capital, and large parts of the countryside;
WHEREAS on December 6-11, 2024, over 207 people were brutally massacred on in the Wharf Jérémie section of Cité Soleil, one of the poorest neighbourhoods of Port-au-Prince, according to a report from the United Nations;
WHEREAS the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights recently announced that at least 5,601 people were killed in gang violence in Haiti last year;
WHEREAS in the past months the situation in Haiti has deteriorated further, displacing as many as a million persons internally with many seeking safety in the Dominican Republic;
WHEREAS the Dominican Republic has reacted by deporting thousands, in likely contravention of its treaty obligation under international law to shelter and protect refugees;
WHEREAS the gangs have launched further attacks, closing hospitals, government buildings and the airport in Port-Au-Prince;
WHEREAS a Multinational Security Support mission led by Kenya, which arrived in Haiti in early 2024 with a mandate to restore public security has been unable to do so as it has a limited mandate of engagement and inadequate armaments have seen it forced to retreat in the face of the better armed gangs;
WHEREAS Leslie Voltaire, the current president of the Transitional Presidential Council has appealed to Secretary-General António Guterres asking that the current Multinational Security Support mission be transformed into an official United Nations peacekeeping mission, citing the urgency of Haiti’s situation;
WHEREAS the Black Coalition Quebec and United Against Hate Canada have issued an appeal for Canada to do more to aid Haiti, including through the office of Bob Rae, Canada’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations;
It was
MOVED BY COUNCILLOR STEVEN ERDELYI
SECONDED BY COUNCILLOR ANDEE SHUSTER
AND RESOLVED:
“THAT the Côte Saint-Luc City Council (“Council”) supports the demands of the Transitional Presidential Council that the Multinational Security Support mission be transformed into an official United Nations peacekeeping mission;
THAT Council supports the call of the United Nations Commissioner on Refugees demanding that the Dominican Republic stop deporting migrants and asylum seekers to Haiti amid the surge of gang violence;
THAT Council urges the Canadian Government to augment its humanitarian aid to Haiti and pledge not to deport any Haitian refugees until the restoration of a stable and safe environment in the country;
THAT Council directs its clerk to send copies of this resolution to the Prime Minister of Canada, the Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Member of Parliament for Mount Royal, as well as all Quebec municipalities on the Island of Montreal.”
CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY