Trudeau heads south to discuss aid for Haiti at CARICOM conference

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau leaves Wednesday for the Bahamas to attend the CARICOM heads of government meeting.

Trudeau has less than two days with leaders of the Caribbean economic and political bloc. While the PM will be preoccupied by the worsening situation in Haiti, the leaders of small island nations will be bringing other concerns to the table.

Climate change, migration and food insecurity are also expected to feature prominently in the discussions. Bahamian Prime Minister Philip Davis told a news conference before the summit that Haiti will still be a "priority" during the three-day meeting.

Trudeau's arrival Wednesday afternoon comes as CARICOM marks its 50th anniversary. It also signals Canada's return to the Caribbean's political stage. The last Canadian prime minister to attend a CARICOM meeting in the Caribbean was Stephen Harper in 2007.

Trudeau's return to CARICOM was supposed to happen in 2020, but domestic issues derailed his attendance.

In a statement announcing the trip, Trudeau's office said he hopes to find a "Haitian-led" solution to an "egregious" security crisis fuelled by gang warfare that is "having a devastating impact on the Haitian people."

Jean Augustine, a former Liberal cabinet minister and long-time advocate for the Caribbean diaspora, said Canada has a "moral impetus" to help Haiti.

"We see how we've come together around Ukraine," Augustine told CBC. "This is the right time as the prime minister goes down there to make sure that the conversations occur, and that the other leaders are on board with strategies that can help." 

The Canadian government said it provided over $90 million in humanitarian and development assistance to Haiti over fiscal year 2022-23. It has supported the Haitian National Police by deploying a long-range patrol aircraft and coordinating the delivery of security equipment. 

Cost of living pressures

Haiti shouldn't be the only topic on the agenda when Trudeau meets with Caribbean leaders, said an international relations professor at the University of Alberta.

"Haiti is a very important problem to be addressed, (but) there are other issues as well," said Andy Knight, who also serves as the university's inaugural provost fellow in Black excellence and leadership.

He said some Caribbean economies — many of them solely dependent on tourism — are struggling to bounce back from COVID lockdowns.

They're also contending with the fallout from high food, oil and gas prices. Inflation in six CARICOM countries peaked at eight per cent in 2022 and some islands saw food prices increase from six to 11 per cent. In Canada, inflation averaged 6.8 per cent last year.

Some of these trends have been driven by the war in Ukraine — whose president Volodymyr Zelenskyy will be addressing CARICOM virtually.

Trudeau's office did say he hopes to advance economic growth in the region during his trip.

Some CARICOM nations are trying to produce more of their own food to reduce imports.  

But for some Caribbean leaders, the key to economic growth lies in tackling growing national debt burdens which "simply skyrocketed" after the pandemic, Knight said.

According to a report by the Inter-American Development Bank, "public debt in the region (the Caribbean and Latin America) grew from 58 per cent [of GDP] in 2019 to 72 per cent in 2020 due to COVID-related fiscal packages, lower revenues, and a recession." The report was based on calculations from the International Monetary Fund.

Canada's debt-to-GDP ratio stood at 31.6 per cent in 2021.

One of the loudest voices calling for debt relief is Prime Minister of Barbados Mia Mottley. At the United Nations in September, Mottley said small, developing island nations experiencing crises like the pandemic and natural disasters driven by climate change should be permitted to waive repayment of debt.

She's also among the CARICOM leaders calling for a "loss and damage fund" to compensate countries that sustain considerable damage from climate-fuelled weather events.

Caribbean leaders are also calling on wealthy countries to provide them with their share of $100 billion US in climate financing annually.

"The reality is the larger emitters in the world need to take charge and do what is right," said CARICOM's secretary general Carla Barnett on Tuesday. "Those who are causing the impact are not bearing their burden of dealing with the effects of that."

In a statement, the Prime Minister's Office says Trudeau's trip will be about advocating "for climate action and resilience for the region, which is particularly vulnerable to climate change and natural disasters."

Global Affairs Canada added in a statement that, as part of its $5.3 billion commitment to international climate finance, Canada has given $14.5 million to CARICOM countries other than Haiti to address mitigation and adaptation.