As long-term missions go, I would be happy to see us take it on.
There's no doubt that immigration saved Canada from political collapse in 1995, since most immigrants to Quebec vote federalist.Canadian population of Montreal is critical to any referendum on the status of Quebec w/in the Canadian confederation. The last referendum was won by pro-Canada forces by less than 1% of the vote - much of the margin of victory provided by Haitian-Canadians.
That being said, I don't think anyone is being quite so instrumental at the moment--the links to Haiti have become deeper and more organic, including a Governor-General who is of Haitian origin. The Montreal police and RCMP have played major roles over the years in CIVPOL assistance to Haiti, and no fewer than 42 Montreal cops were already there working with the UN and Haitian National Police when the quake struck.
They mostly come at night. Mostly.
- university webpage: McGill University
- conflict simulations webpage: PaxSims
....and the Canadian strategic interest in Haiti is what?
Does being in Afghanistan make the Canadians more relevant to world affairs, than being in Haiti?
..and here's the IDF!! - deployed purely for a strategic and instrumental reason.
Infinity Journal "I don't care if this works in practice. I want to see it work in theory!"
- The job of the British Army out here is to kill or capture Communist Terrorists in Malaya.
- If we can double the ratio of kills per contact, we will soon put an end to the shooting in Malaya.
Sir Gerald Templer, foreword to the "Conduct of Anti-Terrorist Operations in Malaya," 1958 Edition
I may be a cynic too, Wilf, but I'm one that also believes that states can occasionally rise beyond self-interest (narrowly-defined) to--on occasion--do the right thing for normative reasons.
It is certainly the case that states often dress up national interest in humanitarian terms, or use humanitarian initiatives to extend power and influence. On the other hand, I've worked in a foreign ministry enough to know that the reverse is true too, and people will sometimes successfully push through policies because they believe them to be morally right.
In the case of Haiti, I think Canada has some comparative advantages--including immigrant links, francophone, prior engagement, relative proximity, and no colonial baggage--that could be usefully employed in Haitian reconstruction.
They mostly come at night. Mostly.
- university webpage: McGill University
- conflict simulations webpage: PaxSims
I always prefer pragmatism and realism over cynicism! - but I do understand your point and even to some extent agree. I just cringe when I hear about "ethics" and "morals" in relation to foreign policy because usually the dissonance and hypocrisy comes in waves 10-foot high!
Infinity Journal "I don't care if this works in practice. I want to see it work in theory!"
- The job of the British Army out here is to kill or capture Communist Terrorists in Malaya.
- If we can double the ratio of kills per contact, we will soon put an end to the shooting in Malaya.
Sir Gerald Templer, foreword to the "Conduct of Anti-Terrorist Operations in Malaya," 1958 Edition
They mostly come at night. Mostly.
- university webpage: McGill University
- conflict simulations webpage: PaxSims
Here is what the UK is doing. This is a fantastic idea for first response.
http://www.shelterbox.org/
Another link
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DAsMoYZpV7A
Think about donating!
Last edited by slapout9; 01-21-2010 at 04:20 PM. Reason: stuff
Infinity Journal "I don't care if this works in practice. I want to see it work in theory!"
- The job of the British Army out here is to kill or capture Communist Terrorists in Malaya.
- If we can double the ratio of kills per contact, we will soon put an end to the shooting in Malaya.
Sir Gerald Templer, foreword to the "Conduct of Anti-Terrorist Operations in Malaya," 1958 Edition
Very cool idea, Shelter in a box.
My idea was to use the relative abundance of Sea-Cans in Canada and the US to provide shelter. Available for around $3000.00 Cdn a Sea Can can be used to provide a very good home for someone. You can wire in air conditioning, power, plumbing...chop out the interior walls and join two together and make yourself a duplex. Can even get into making multi story houses because they stack so well.
I have a friend who just bought one of the larger ones, chopped it in two and made a two car garage.
Dear Rex Brynen,
In the presence of a free-wheeling media environment, states often feel obliged to act responsibly to counter mounting criticism that might threaten their very survival. For instance, while the media coverage for such cataclysmic conflicts as the one in the Democratic Republic of Congo was far from being sufficient (thus concealing the genuine extent of the confrontation that claimed countless lives), the media acted promptly in the case of the Tsunami and the recent earthquake in Haiti. It would have been inconceivable for the Canadian government not to hearken to the voices of the ill-faited Haitians affacted by the earthquake now that the entire world has been focusing in the area. While in realist terms such a helping-hand extended to Haiti is not interest-ridden, we should dig further in order to ascertain to measure the calibre of Canada's altruism.
For instance, while government announced emergency measures to facilitate the immigration of Haitians to Canada, many civil society organisations in Montréal (by the way, this has been very amply covered in the francophone media) are unimpressed by the government's "emergencu measures" since it doesn't subsume cousins, brothers, or sisters amongst the people that can be sponsored by Canadians of Haitian origin. The momentous question is, will the Canadian government make it easier for these people to more easily immigrate to Canada?
Regards,
Vahid
I think this is a rather difficult policy issue, and I'm not surprised that the government hasn't made a decision yet. Would this policy then apply to all places that suffer humanitarian disaster (or, for that matter, war) in the future? Would it result in trimming the number of non-Haitians that would be eligible to enter in an effort to maintain immigration targets? Etc.
I'm certainly not doubting that there is a great deal of political interest in policy-making.. as a political scientist, I could hardly believe otherwise. I am saying, however, that sometimes states, politicians, and bureaucrats do things for normative reasons too.
They mostly come at night. Mostly.
- university webpage: McGill University
- conflict simulations webpage: PaxSims
Hi Rex,
I'm not quite as sanguine about taking it on as a long term mission, but that has more to do with what the parameters of such a mission would look like.
I think all of us who watched that referendum remember that infamous comment !
I think you're quite right about the links becoming more organic, certainly at the cultural and diasporic levels. I'm just worried that it may become another sink hole where we aren't allowed to actually do anything that would make things better. Personally, I would like, after the current crisis dies down, to send a whole slew of environmental activists to Haiti on a tree-planting mission, since one of the root causes of so much of the instability in environmental degradation brought on by deforestation.
Sic Bisquitus Disintegrat...
Marc W.D. Tyrrell, Ph.D.
Institute of Interdisciplinary Studies,
Senior Research Fellow,
The Canadian Centre for Intelligence and Security Studies, NPSIA
Carleton University
http://marctyrrell.com/
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