Michaëlle Jean is a Canadian stateswoman and former journalist who served as Governor General of Canada from 2005 to 2010, the 27th since Canadian Confederation. She is the first Haitian Canadian and Black person to hold this office. Jean was the third secretary-general of the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie from 2015 until 2019 and the first woman to hold that position. After receiving a number of university degrees, Jean worked as a journalist and broadcaster for Radio-Canada and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), as well as undertaking charity work, mostly in the field of assisting victims of domestic violence. Jean won numerous awards for her journalism, including the Amnesty International Journalism Award. With her husband, French-born Canadian filmmaker Jean-Daniel Lafond, she also made several acclaimed documentaries, most notably Haïti dans tous nos rêves (1995; “Haiti in All Our Dreams”).
Jean was an event speaker at the Dialogue.
Photo credit: Roosewelt Pinheiro / ABr – Agência Brasil / CC BY 3.0 BR
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On July 13, 2022, Think Tank Haiti, a collaborative initiative between the Inter-American Dialogue and the Quisqueya University in Haiti hosted a webinar on the outcomes of international aid in Haiti. The panel featured a diverse group of experts, discussing why aid may have failed in Haiti as well as what Haiti and donor countries can do to mitigate future poor performance.
A Latin America Advisor Q&A featuring experts’ viewpoints on the political outlook for Haiti following calls for democratic elections.
Police teams from countries in the region would be better accepted by the Haitian population.
We cannot look at all this with fatalism and say that [Haiti] is cursed. It is not cursed. It carries within it men and women of very strong will, who have even worked very hard to find a Haitian solution — but who also realize that they cannot achieve it alone.
