Gov. Gen. Michaëlle Jean’s tour of Haiti continued on Monday as she met with the country’s business elite in Port-au-Prince, where she scolded them for egotism and urged them not to be selfish.
Selfishness, she declared, has to come to an end in Haiti. Her eyes welled with emotion when she talked about her return to the country where she was born.
Later, meeting with reporters, she was forceful about the plight of her homeland’s children.
"You have children here in Haiti who are slaves. You have children who will never have a chance to go to school. You have children who will die of hunger. So when I am here, I see them," Jean said.
But on this trip, Jean is a VIP and has spent most of her time, so far, meeting with the rich, the powerful and the privileged of Haiti. She bristled when asked why she has had so little contact with the country’s poorest residents.
"You want me to go to Belair ? I know Belair. I know Cité Soleil. I am from this country, I was born here."
But she avoided the question of why she hasn’t visited those quarters. Her original itinerary had her visiting a market in the teeming, impoverished centre of Port-au-Prince, but that was scratched, apparently out of security concerns.
Canadian officials say there have been tense discussions about the need to keep Jean in a security bubble. As a compromise, some slum-dwellers are being brought to meet her at the embassy.
Jean herself said that she is satisfied with her itinerary. There are slums here, she said, and everyone knows that. But, she said, there is more to Haiti than slums, and after all, it’s the powerful people here who have the ability to change things.
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