Haitian Relief

I’m listening to a report on Earthquake Relief in Haiti six months later. With a government that barely functioned before the disaster there is now no infrastructure in place even to assist in family re-unification. Governments worldwide have millions of dollars in aid money ready to help but won’t release it until the Haitian Government puts ministers in charge of reconstruction. For their part the Haitians insist on administering that aid money which given theiir the past history of corruption foreign governments will not release. To understand that feeling one must look no further than the Italian Earthquake of 20 years ago. Italians in the Greater Toronto Area raised 30 million dollars in relief aid which the Italian Mafia magically made disappear without building a single shelter. Meanwhile ordinary Haitians live in canvas tent cities amid daily torrential rain, no privacy, sexual abuse, no sanitation, no clean drinking water, malaria, dysentery, and disease. When her term as Governor-General expires Michel Jean is returning to her homeland to attempt to assist the recovery; somehow one has the feeling that she faces a greater challenge than keeping Stephen Harper in line.