Taking command

By Aaron Wherry - Thursday, January 12, 2012 at 1:01 PM - 0 Comments

Within this story about efforts to deliver foreign aid in Haiti is an intriguing anecdote about Michaelle Jean’s role in the deployment of the Canadian Forces in the aftermath of the Haitian earthquake.

Two years ago, Ms. Jean, then governor-general, was having dinner with U.S. Ambassador David Jacobson at Rideau Hall when the earthquake struck. After working the phones, she managed to convince Canada’s Chief of the Defence Staff, Walter Natynczyk, to send help immediately instead of waiting for an official call from the Haitian authorities.

The Governor General does hold the title of commander-in-chief, but there is probably an interesting discussion to have about the precedents and implications of a Governor General getting involved in overseas deployments.

Poverty, terrorism and 9/11

By Aaron Wherry - Friday, September 9, 2011 at 9:00 AM - 38 Comments

During his interview with the CBC, Stephen Harper was asked about comments Jean Chretien made nine years ago on the first anniversary of Sept. 11.

Nobody who was killed on 9/11 deserved it remotely. It was a terrible thing, has nothing to do with wealth versus poverty. It has to do with, in this case, a particular hateful ideology that has attacked people around the world, not just affluent societies like our own, but some pretty poor places. You know, I think the people killed in Indonesia, in India. The fact that Afghanistan became a failed state, where you know, people just essentially lived in not just poverty, but brutality, to the point where a kind of Islamic fascist regime literally invited terrorists, international terrorists to set up camp in their country. I think that that kind of situation obviously bred a threat, and that’s why we are so worried when we look around the world now at other places where the same thing could happen. You know, I think you know some of them: Somalia, Yemen, that are there or at that kind of stage. That’s the kind of thing I think we really have to worry about, where you have not just poverty, but poverty and literally lawlessness becomes the nature of the state. And I do think it’s in our broader interests and the right thing to do to try and help people and help countries so that they don’t get into that situation. That’s why, you know, we obviously are helping with the famine in East Africa. It’s why we’re so involved in Haiti. Not to have that kind of a state in our own backyard. So those, I think those kinds of situations are very dangerous.

Mr. Chretien’s comments, as reported by the Globe, were as follows. Continue…

Sweet Micky’s sour start in Haiti

By Richard Warnica - Monday, August 29, 2011 at 9:45 AM - 0 Comments

Thony Belizaire/AFP/Getty Images

Haitian President Michel Martelly rode to power on a wave of popular sentiment last spring. But three months after his inauguration, “Sweet Micky,” as the former pop star is known, is finding government a bit tougher than showbiz.
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Wanted and unknown

By Aaron Wherry - Tuesday, August 2, 2011 at 4:53 PM - 32 Comments

One of the names on the most-wanted list of alleged war criminals is apparently something of a mystery.

“I have no idea who he is,” says Brian Concannon, director of the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti. Concannon has worked on the prosecution of crimes against humanity in Haiti since 1995, and is well-versed in cases from 1991 on.

“I’ve Googled him, I’ve looked through all the major reports, I’ve asked other people who work in human rights in Haiti and no one has heard of him,” says Concannon. ”It’s possible he changed his name, or he was working at a very low-level.” Concannon added he was puzzled that the Canadian government would label Prince a war criminal, given that “I don’t think there’s been a war in Haiti in a very long time.”

The Heritage Minister has questioned the CBC’s decision to not broadcast the names and faces of those on the list.

Enjoying the good life

By Cynthia Reynolds - Tuesday, July 26, 2011 at 11:05 AM - 1 Comment

While the return of Jean-Claude Duvalier to Haiti after 25 years in exile has generated ongoing calls for his prosecution—including a UN proposal earlier this month for a Truth Commission to investigate the human rights crimes he’s accused of overseeing during his brutal 1971-1986 rule—the former dictator known as Baby Doc continues to live in freedom. That’s unlikely to change anytime soon, as another round of political crises, deadly disease and scandal involving aid organizations pulls attention away from the 59-year-old, who, by all accounts, has had a pretty good year.

It’s suspected that before fleeing to France in 1986 following popular uprisings against him, Duvalier—who inherited the presidency at age 19 upon the death of his father “Papa Doc”—had looted $300 million in public funds. That made for a first-class exile, until he squandered the money on extravagant shopping sprees, luxury cars and a colossally expensive divorce. Before arriving back in Haiti on Jan. 16, Duvalier, reportedly broke, had been living in a one-bedroom Paris apartment.

Typically, most don’t go to Haiti in search of the good life, but his well-heeled network of supporters has boosted him back into it. He’s been spotted socializing with power players and dining at upscale restaurants. He’s said to frequently entertain visitors—staying in a mansion in the hills far above the wreckage of Port-au-Prince.

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Newsmakers

By macleans.ca - Monday, March 28, 2011 at 5:17 PM - 0 Comments

Eric Miller/Reuters

Old hat, new hat trick

It was a typical week at the office for Montreal Canadiens defenceman P.K. Subban. Last Thursday, he was hacked by an established NHL star, Vincent Lecavalier. On Friday he scored a goal against the New York Rangers and was challenged to a fight. On Saturday, he was disparaged on national TV by Don Cherry, and on Sunday he scored the first hat trick by a rookie defenceman in the 101-year history of les glorieux. The ebullient Subban is driving his opponents to distraction—not to mention a few prigs in the hockey media. But with each passing game, it’s becoming clearer that P.K.’s detractors will have to adjust to him rather than vice versa. As former Habs GM Bob Gainey put it: “Some of those people should just shut up and play against him.”

Hugo still boss

An autocrat’s work is never done. In between signing trade agreements with China, including a deal involving Venezuela’s state-run oil company, and an extended $4-billion line of credit for its capital of Caracas, Latin American strongman Hugo Chávez found time last week to accuse America of planning to sabotage his re-election bid in 2012, censure the West for its air strikes on Libya—and attack the boom in breast implants in his own country. He pointed the finger at doctors, who “convince some women that if they don’t have some big bosoms, they should feel bad.”

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The Commons: Ms. Oda has something to say

By Aaron Wherry - Thursday, February 17, 2011 at 6:20 PM - 55 Comments

The Scene. On the third day, she did stand. Bev Oda did rise up on her own two feet. She did speak publicly in response to a question posed by a Member of Parliament on the opposition side of the House. She did fulfill, in this regard, her responsibility as a minister of the crown in this democracy of ours.

Alas, it was nothing to do with the decision to reject a funding request from a group named KAIROS. It was nothing to do with how that decision was explained. Nothing to do with how a relevant document came to be so sloppily edited. Nothing to do with how Ms. Oda had explained that editing. Indeed, barring a sudden turn tomorrow, it seems Ms. Oda will escape this week without having to answer any of the questions that arose out of her statement to the House on Monday afternoon.

The government swears she has been responsible in this regard, but they won’t let her take responsibility. The government applauds her abilities, but won’t let her stand. The government expounds on her courage, but they won’t let her speak.

“I’ve been very clear to my ministers that they are responsible for the decisions they make,” the Prime Minister apparently said today.

In fairness, he did not say specifically “when” or “how” his ministers are so responsible. And we are clearly now at a point where only by asking with the correct combination of passwords can we expect to get at the truth. Continue…

Arcade Fire, on fame and putting it to good use

By Jonathon Gatehouse - Monday, February 14, 2011 at 9:51 AM - 6 Comments

Rune Hellestad/Corbis

People in tuxedos fighting over hot dogs. That’s the indelible image Win Butler and Régine Chassagne took home from their first trip to the Grammy Awards back in 2006. Their group, Arcade Fire, had received two nominations. One was for Best Alternative Album for their debut disc Funeral—a big-deal award handed out during the televised, evening portion of the ceremony. The other was a nod for a song that had shown up on HBO’s Six Feet Under, in the decidedly less-prestigious Best Song Written for Motion Picture, Television, or Other Visual Media category, parcelled out hours before the real show begins. Not knowing any better, all seven members of the Montreal band dutifully took their seats inside an L.A. convention hall at 11 a.m., and spent the day politely applauding the winners of the best Hawaiian, polka and metal recordings. It was hot. It was boring. They didn’t win. And there was no alcohol, food, or even water available.

Late in the afternoon, the famished crowd was finally herded across the street to the Staples Center, site of the evening festivities. Inside the rink, a huge lineup formed at the one open concession stand. Soon things turned ugly. “People were screaming,” says Butler. “Women in prom dresses were crying,” Chassagne chimes in. Organizers told them they had to take their seats, and that no food would be allowed inside. Total chaos. “By the end there were people offering $50 for a hot dog,” Butler says with a grin.

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This week: Newsmakers

By Nancy Macdonald - Wednesday, February 2, 2011 at 12:40 PM - 0 Comments

The greatest skate
To say Patrick Chan blew away the competition as he skated to his fourth straight national men’s title is a gross understatement. It was, according to the Vancouver Sun, “inarguably the greatest skate ever by a Canadian.” Chan didn’t so much as wobble as he laid out two back-to-back quads—the calling card of the sport’s greats—and went on to shatter the world record score for a male skater. “Brian Orser? Kurt Browning? Elvis Stojko? All great on any number of days,” wrote Cam Cole. “None as great as Chan was, on this one.” The spellbound crowd in Victoria brought down the house as Chan, finally, slowed to a stop. “That was the reaction I wanted at the Olympics,” said the Toronto native. “That’s what I dreamed about every night when I went to bed. And I finally got it.”

Attack of the former presidents
The dust has barely settled after former dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier’s arrival in Haiti, and another name from the country’s past is attempting a return to the homeland. Former president Jean-Bertrand Aristide, who’s been living in exile in South Africa since being forced from office in a 2004 coup, is eager to return, he said this week, to serve his “Haitian sisters and brothers as a simple citizen in the field of education.” “Baby Doc” Duvalier, meanwhile, whose lavish life in exile in France was abruptly halted by a pricey divorce, says he’s returned “to help”—not, as is widely suspected, to lay claim to a frozen Swiss bank account. Now that he’s there, investigators are building a fresh case against him over the alleged theft of $120 million—what they describe as a “gigantic fraud . . . from one of the poorest populations on Earth.”

Alas, poor Andy
British PM David Cameron’s embattled communications chief Andy Coulson stepped down on Friday amid continued questions about his possible involvement in the illegal hacking of celebrity voice messages when he was editor of the News of the World—making him, as Britain’s Independent cheekily reported, “the first person in history to resign twice for something of which he knew nothing.” In lesser political disgraces, a British MP was interrupted mid-speech by his own musical tie, whose tinny tune was picked up by his mike. Baffled MPs hunted for the source, until Tory backbencher Nad­him Zahawi realized who was to blame. “I apologize,” he said. “It is my tie to support the campaign against bowel cancer.” “Perhaps next time the honourable gentleman will be more selective in the ties he wears in the chamber,” said deputy speaker Dawn Primarolo.

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Baby Doc leaves hotel under police escort

By macleans.ca - Tuesday, January 18, 2011 at 1:08 PM - 0 Comments

Former Haitian dictator Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier left his hotel in the Haitian capital under police escort on Tuesday, barely 24 hours after he returned to the country he once ruled with an iron fist after years in exile in Paris. It’s not yet clear what the future holds for Duvalier, who met earlier with police officials and a judge at the Hotel Karibe. Haiti’s chief prosecutor was also said to be on site. According to prominent local lawyer Reynold Georges, Duvalier had called him prior to leaving the hotel requesting legal advice. In an interview with a local newspaper, Haitian Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive said on Monday that were “ongoing judicial processes involving the Haitian state and Mr. Duvalier over money” and that his government was “not comfortable” with the former tyrant’s latest visit.

La Presse

‘Baby Doc’ back in Haiti

By macleans.ca - Monday, January 17, 2011 at 11:38 AM - 6 Comments

Jean-Claude ‘Baby Doc’ Duvalier, the former dictator of Haiti who was overthrown in 1986 by a populist uprising, has returned to his native country after a nearly quarter-century-long exile in France. In 1971, ‘Baby Doc’ inherited the presidency from his father, Francois “Papa Doc” Duvalier, when he was only 19. Duvalier’s rule was characterized by corruption and authoritarianism, while the Haitian people suffered the brutality of his notorious secret police, the Tontons Macoutes, who tortured and killed his political opponents. While the reason for Duvalier’s return from exile is not known, it comes at a time when Haiti is at a perilous crossroads, struggling to rebuild after last year’s devastating earthquake that killed 250,000 people and a subsequent cholera epidemic that claimed 3,750 lives. Haiti is also in the midst of a political crisis following last November’s election, which ended up in a run-off and provoked violent street protests. It is unclear as to whether Duvalier intends to insert himself into the country’s political process.

BBC News

Canadian government pledges $93-million for Haiti

By macleans.ca - Tuesday, January 11, 2011 at 7:10 PM - 11 Comments

It’s been one year since the quake in Haiti, and the Canadian government has announced a pledge of more than $93-million for eight new initiatives to improve children’s health, education, and agriculture in the island nation. Bev Oda, the International Cooperation Minister, announced the Canadian support, which will come from the $400-million reconstruction fund that Ottawa committed last year. Programs include Canadian backing for a Pan-American Health Organization project to provide free health care for three million women and young children, backing for the building of 10 maternity clinics, a hospital maternity ward in Gonaives, and funds for a project to build 35 schools. It also backed programs to aid farmers and provide food for rural families. Despite these efforts, the federal government and other Western nations that donated money are facing criticism over not having done enough in the last 12 months.

Globe and Mail

Year in pictures – January

By macleans.ca - Thursday, December 23, 2010 at 12:00 PM - 0 Comments

Good news about Canada’s education system

By macleans.ca - Thursday, December 23, 2010 at 8:00 AM - 13 Comments

Canadian students have come a long way | Tannis Toohey/Toronto Star

The end of the year is a hopeful and generous time for Canadians, a time when we indulge our better instincts and tend to look on the bright side of things. How strange then, that recent good news about Canada’s education system has prompted a sudden bout of pessimism.

Last week saw the release of a massive comparison of school systems around the world. The Programme for International School Assessment (PISA) is run every three years by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and tests 470,000 15-year-old students across 65 countries and regions in reading, math and science. Canada, once again, found itself among the world’s leaders in educational performance.

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Nothing to fear but WiFi and fluoride

By Andrew Potter - Monday, December 13, 2010 at 9:00 AM - 102 Comments

Steve Cole/Getty Images

As the cholera outbreak in Haiti continues to worsen, the population is getting increasingly desperate. In some areas, mobs have embarked on genuine witch hunts, attacking people accused of using black magic to deliberately spread the disease. At least 12 people suspected of being witches were stoned or hacked to death last week, their corpses dragged into the street and burned.

Haiti’s descent into superstition in the face of chaos might afford us a few drops of condescension to mix with our pity at the country’s fate. But it bears keeping in mind that when it comes to confronting fears, Canadians are no less prone to fits of magical thinking.

For example, back in October, parents at an elementary school in Ontario voted overwhelmingly to ban WiFi in the classroom*. Were the parents concerned that surfing the Net during class might be bad for learning? No, they were reacting to symptoms reported by their kids that included dizziness, nausea, and headaches, and which mysteriously disappeared on weekends and holidays. Deftly elbowing past the obvious explanation—going to school makes most kids want to barf—parents concluded that the in-school wireless must be to blame. And so out went the Internet routers, despite assurances from the province’s chief medical officer that they posed absolutely no threat to students.

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Haiti orders recount of presidential votes

By macleans.ca - Friday, December 10, 2010 at 12:32 PM - 0 Comments

Haitian election officials have ordered a recount of the ballots cast in last month’s disputed presidential election. The immediate recount will be done in the presence of the top three candidates, Mirlande Manigat, Jude Celestin and Michele Martelly. The third place candidate, Martelly, has alleged that the count was rigged against him. When it was announced he would not pass through to the second round of voting, rioters took to the streets in the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince. The run-off vote is currently scheduled for January 16.

BBC News

Nepalese troops thought to be source of Haiti's cholera outbreak

By macleans.ca - Wednesday, December 8, 2010 at 12:58 PM - 0 Comments

The Nepalese army’s chief medical officer has said none of Nepal’s soldiers serving with UN peacekeepers in Haiti was tested for cholera before being deployed. The statement comes after a Nepalese army spokesman rejected a report which suggested the Haitian epidemic was caused by river contamination from Nepalese troops. The medical officer, Brig Gen Dr Kishore Rana, said the UN did not require such a test unless a soldier had cholera symptoms. This contradicts previous statements by the Nepalese army which has maintained that all its troops were given a medical test, which included checking for cholera, before being deployed to Haiti in October. So far, Cholera has killed more than 2,000 Haitians, and the belief that the outbreak originates with UN troops has prompted anti-UN protests.

BBC News

Children in war and in prison

By Michael Petrou - Tuesday, November 30, 2010 at 11:38 AM - 16 Comments

Anti-Taliban soldier Abdul Azam, 14, cleans his weapson in his barracks (Photo by Chris Hondros/Getty Images)

The first soldiers I met in Afghanistan were teenagers who had been fighting since they were 15 or 16 years old. There were three of them. They manned a machinegun nest on a lonely hill a kilometre or two from where the Taliban were dug in a short horse ride away. This was in October 2001. The kids belonged to the Northern Alliance militia, which had been fighting the Taliban for years and were on the verge of defeat when the Taliban’s al-Qaeda guests bombed America and changed the course of the war.

Now it is that teenagers’ allies who ostensibly run the government in Kabul. I have no doubt that their ranks continue to include minors, as do those of the Taliban. Children fight and kill and die violently in Afghanistan. The world would be a better place were this not the case, but it is. And in the course of battling the Taliban Canadian soldiers encounter and capture such minors, and must figure out what to do with them.

It’s a difficult dilemma without easy answers. Those such as the NDP’s Thomas Mulcair, who implicitly accused Canadian soldiers of handing over children to be tortured, aren’t offering any. Continue…

Cholera epidemic in Haiti spreading faster than initially predicted

By macleans.ca - Wednesday, November 24, 2010 at 12:04 PM - 0 Comments

A senior UN official says Haiti’s cholera epidemic is spreading faster than predicted and warned it could affect thousands more people before it’s over. Since it first broke in October, cholera has claimed at least 1,344 lives in the country. It has spread rapidly through crowded housing, and the camps and the makeshift shelters where earthquake victims have taken residence. Nigel Fisher, the UN’s humanitarian co-coordinator in Haiti, believes cholera will continue to spread and said the realistic death toll will be close to 2,000. The number of cases is currently at about 70,000—20,000 more than the original estimate of 50,000.

The Guardian

The Commons: Transparent contradictions

By Aaron Wherry - Monday, November 15, 2010 at 8:46 PM - 91 Comments

The Scene. The Liberal leader furrowed his brow. Michael Ignatieff had tried twice to gain some kind of clarity from the Foreign Affairs Minister and twice Lawrence Cannon, sticking to the script set out on the desk in front of him, had provided only the vaguest of notions.

“Mr. Speaker, these answers are genuinely absurd,” Mr. Ignatieff ventured with his third opportunity. “We are five days away from the Lisbon summit and the government is unable to stand in the House and tell us exactly what the post-2011 combat mission looks like.”

He gesticulated with both hands, putting on a surrealist puppet show to explain the confusion. ”How can the government explain this silence,” he begged, “how can it explain its improvisation, how can it explain its secrecy, how can it explain its lack of transparency with the Canadian people?”

His eyebrows jumped toward the ceiling as he finished.

With that asked, Mr. Cannon stood here to make a daring claim to seriousness. “Mr. Speaker,” he said, “we have been repeatedly clear on this particular issue.” Continue…

Michaëlle Jean in conversation

By Aaron Wherry - Sunday, October 3, 2010 at 10:15 AM - 0 Comments

Michaëlle Jean’s term as governor general ends this week with the instalment of her successor, David Johnston. In one of her final interviews as the Queen’s representative, Jean reflects on what was at turns an inspiring, controversial and consequential five years in office and looks forward to her building the Michaëlle Jean Foundation, dedicated to continuing her outreach with young people, and her work with the United Nations as a special envoy to Haiti.

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Who was ready for the hot summer

By macleans.ca - Thursday, September 16, 2010 at 12:20 PM - 0 Comments

Getty Images

Atlantic Canada: Maritimers and Newfoundlanders go to work prepared to get the most out of sunny days: 18 per cent say they keep summer clothes or flip-flops at the office so they can take advantage of good weather at lunch or after work. Just 13 per cent of Canadians overall say they head to work prepared.

Quebec: Many Canadians (38 per cent) donated to Haitian relief efforts, but Quebecers are the most skeptical about how much money will trickle down to those in need. Just 30 per cent agree that “all” or “most” of the money will reach the people, compared to 64 per cent of Atlantic Canadians.

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Mitchel Raphael on the Prime Minister's wife and the grizzly bear

By Mitchel Raphael - Thursday, August 26, 2010 at 2:40 PM - 0 Comments

Harper teams up with Don Cherry
Ontario Conservative MP Patrick Brown’s third annual Hockey Night in Barrie charity game was packed with fans and celebrities, including the Prime Minister. It was the first time Stephen Harper had attended the event. Harper coached the “blue” team with Hockey Night in Canada’s Don Cherry. Past coaches at the celebrity game have included Sports Minister Gary Lunn and former Conservative, now Independent MP Helena Guergis, who, coincidentally, was in a car crash the day of the tournament. (Guergis is now reported to be doing “fine.”)

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Newsmakers

By macleans.ca - Friday, August 20, 2010 at 8:00 AM - 0 Comments

Andy Murray’s big win
Scotland’s Andy Murray, 23, overcame two tennis giants and weather delays at Toronto’s Rexall Centre to win the Rogers Cup championship for the second year in a row. He beat Rafael Nadal in straight sets and ground down Roger Federer in the final, before clambering into the crowd to hug his mother.

The soldier takes a bride
Retired infantry Capt. Trevor Greene has put aside work on a book about his remarkable recovery from an axe attack four years ago in Afghanistan to soldier away on a new writing project: wedding thank-you cards. In late July, Greene married Debbie Lepore, the woman he credits with helping drag him from the edge of death after his traumatic brain injury and setting him on the path to recovery. They married in Nanaimo, B.C., before 120 guests, including their five-year-old daughter Grace, in Lepore’s sister’s backyard, “which had been transformed into a bucolic, candlelit sanctuary for the occasion,” he said in an email to Maclean’s. He may not have walked down the aisle, but he stood at a set of parallel bars as Lepore became Mrs. Greene. They’ll soon resume work on the book, and he’s added workouts in a pool to his rehab routine. “My physio said that is where I will take my first steps in the fullness of time,” says Greene.

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