As gang violence explodes, Canada welcomes Haitian PM's promise to resign

Canada is welcoming the news that Ariel Henry, Haiti's unelected prime minister, has agreed to leave office as Caribbean leaders scramble to find ways to stabilize a country overrun by gang violence.

Following months of pressure from Ottawa, Washington and leaders from across the Caribbean, Henry announced early Tuesday that he would resign once a transitional presidential council is created.

Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly welcomed the political agreement and urged key players in Haiti to work toward ending the country's ongoing humanitarian, security and political crises.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau spoke with Henry hours before his announcementand affirmed the close ties between Canada and Haiti, according to a late Monday notice from the Prime Minister's Office (PMO).

Henry has been locked out of his own country while travelling abroad, due to surging unrest and violence by criminal gangs that have overrun much of Haiti's capital and closed down its main international airports.

The readout of Trudeau's conversation with Henry says Trudeau reiterated the critical need for a political agreement among Haitian stakeholders that is inclusive and could create the conditions for free and fair elections and the restoration of democratic order.

"Prime Minister Trudeau and Prime Minister Henry reaffirmed the strong bond between Canada and Haiti," the PMO readout said.

Quebec has a large Haitian community,estimated at more than 140,000.

Many Haitian Montrealers are worried about loved ones amid the violence that has paralyzed the Haitian capital. They include Wedne Colin, who said his family members have had to flee their homes several times to escape the armed gangs that have seized control of the capital city of Port-au-Prince.

WATCH | Leaders meet for emergency summit aimed atretoring order in Haiti:

Emergency summit aimed at restoring order in Haiti

5 months ago

Duration 3:01

Regional leaders from the Caribbean, plus officials from Canada and the U.S., met in Jamaica to find a way out of the crisis in Haiti as more than 80 per cent of the capital Port-au-Prince is now under gang control and fears of civil war grow.

Canada's Ambassador to the United NationsBob Rae attended a Monday meeting in Jamaica with several Caribbean leaders and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

The meeting was organized by the Conference of the Heads of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), a regional tradingbloc that has pressed for months for a transitional government in Haiti while violent protests in the country demanded Henry's resignation.

Henry remained in Puerto Rico during the meeting, according to a statement from the U.S. territory's Department of State, and was taking steps to return to Haiti once it's feasible.

Henry served the longest single term as prime minister since Haiti's 1987 constitution was approved, a surprising feat for a politically unstable country with a constant turnover of premiers. He was sworn in as prime minister nearly two weeks after the July 7, 2021, assassination of President Jovenel Mose.

Critics of Henry note he was never elected by the people, much less Parliament, since it remains nonexistent after the terms of the last remaining senators expired in January 2023, leaving Haiti without a single elected official.

Andr Franois Giroux, Canada's ambassador to Haiti, said the island nation is facing a humanitarian, security and political crisis and Henry's resignation offers hope on the political front.

"There's no doubt that despite his best effort ... Prime MinisterAriel Henry was perceived as being illegitimate because right now in Haiti there is no constitutional order," Giroux told CBC Radio's The Current Tuesday. "All of the mandates of the people who were elected have elapsed."

Giroux said there are no plans to evacuate embassy workers from Haiti at present.

"The vast majority of the international community here in Haiti are just like us," he said. "We are sheltering in place, we're working from home, we're avoiding unnecessary road travel but we hope that with last night and the coming days, the situation will stabilize."

Kenya pausing troop deployment to Haiti

Blinken on Monday announced an additional $100 million to finance the deployment of a multinational force to Haiti.

Washington in the past has asked Canada to lead such a military intervention, but Trudeau has said it's not clear whether that would stabilize the country.

Blinken also announced another $33 million in humanitarian aid and a joint proposal agreed on by Caribbean leaders and "all of the Haitian stakeholders to expedite a political transition" and create a "presidential college."

He said the college would take "concrete steps" he did not identify to meet the needs of Haitian people and enable the pending deployment of the multinational force, to be led by Kenya.

Kenya had said its police officers would soon be in Haiti to confront rampaging gangs controlling the capital. On Tuesday, however, a senior Kenyan government official said the government hasdecided to pause its planned deployment of 1,000 police officers to lead the international security mission.

"(Whether we deploy) is contingent on the ground situation, and the critical ground situation is that there has to be an authority that can be the basis for a police deployment, that enjoys constitutional authority in Haiti," said Abraham Korir Sing'Oei, the principal secretary at Kenya's foreign ministry.

Reacting to the Kenyan announcement, U.S. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told reporters: "We would be concerned of course about any delay (in the deployment), but we don't think that there will need to be a delay.

"If you look at what the Kenyan government said in its statement, [it's] that they have to have a government with which to collaborate, which has been an important part of their understanding. It's a perfectly natural thing to expect," he added.