I thank you once again for inviting me to visit with you on this occasion.

I have been asked to speak about the situation in Haiti.

The earthquake there on 12th January 2010 has left a trail of destruction which is unprecedented in our lives.
Of course human memory is short.  In human experience, the time frames which set the context of our lives without the knowledge of history often leads us to a false sense of security.  You know the story, the people who were born today believe that time began the day they were born; ignoring all that came before them.

There was a devastating earthquake before in Haiti in the nineteenth century on 7th May 1842 but that was more than two hundred years ago.
You all know that in Jamaica the city of Port Royal at the end of the Palisadoes strip where you land when going to Kingston, there was a devastating earthquake on 7th June 1642 at 11:43 a.m. which sunk more than half the city below some 25 feet of water.

There were earth quakes in The Bahamas and indeed on 12th January when the Haitian quake took place, tremors were felt in Inagua.
If you read The Tribune of November 1956, the day after the first PLP Members took their seats in the House of Assembly there is a headline in The Tribune saying that there was an earthquake in Crooked Island.

Haiti is once again front and centre in the public policy of The Bahamas. I want to say I told you so.  Haiti will continue to be front and centre in the public policy of The Bahamas.

Nicolette Bethel, former Director of Culture, once told a civil society meeting when I was the Minister of Foreign Affairs, told the group that if we wanted to solve the Haitian problem, there was an easy solution. She said Haitians came here because theirs was a poor country.  She said The Bahamas was a rich country.  The Haitians came here because we were a rich country, so what we could do is become a poor country and then they would stop coming here.

In her own inimitable way, this was to say how protracted the problem is going to be since it is unlikely that The Bahamas will become a poor country, nor is it likely that the people of this country choose to become a poor country.

There is a long essay written by Sean McWeeney, the former Attorney General, about the history of Haitian immigration to The Bahamas. In the language of the 19th century, they were called French Africans and the reports are replete with the accounts of French Africans moving through The Bahamas.
You have all heard I hope by now that the first black man to sit in the House of Assembly was Hester Argot’s son Stephen Dillette who took his seat in 1834.   He was the grandfather of James Weldon Johnson.

In speaking to Dr. Gail Saunders recently, I told her that one of the issues that I have with Michael Craton’s History of The Bahamas is his central position that the black population of the country became the majority of the country for the first time and ever since following the war of the revolution in the United States which led to the influx of the loyalists and their slaves. Mr. Craton’s view appears to be that the black population of The Bahamas today are the descendants of African slaves from the Carolinas and other parts of the U.S.

I understand that he is now considering the revision of the history. He ought to consider a chapter which stresses the role of Haitian immigration on the Bahamian population.  This is a long standing practice. We know that it is the state of being of human kind to move from place to place.  Immigration laws are not natural constructs but necessary constructs for modern societies.  So people will come and will travel and the immigration of Haitians to the Bahamas is now new and will continue.  The pattern is that each time there is some catastrophe in Haiti, more come and the chances are more will continue to come unless these is a substantial improvement in the Haitian economy.  In the short term, this is not a likely prospect but anything is possible.

This has been happening since the 19th century. Indeed, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) did a study in The Bahamas which the government should make public which says that on any given day there are about 30,000 to 75,000 Haitians in The Bahamas, most of whom are on their way to somewhere else.
When we were in office, our philosophy was to use our scarce resources to see what we could to solve Haiti's problems. Our view is if we solve Haiti’s problems, then many of our problems are solved. The public policy on Haiti throughout the world always seemed based on emergencies.  Once the emergency was over, the world forgot.  I fear that once this emergency is over, the world will forget again. It is really up to countries like ours and those in the Caricom region to keep the world's attention focused on Haiti.  It is in our country’s long term and short term interests to do so.

For example, we believed that intelligence officers, most likely RBDF officers should have been stationed in the north of Haiti to collect and gather intelligence about ships launching of The Bahamas and stopping them at the sight of their setting out.  This was opposed by the military establishment at the time but I still believe that it is one of the best tools in our arsenal.

The best and most educated guesses we have is that Haitian migration to The Bahamas will continue on an accelerated basis over the next decade.  You can review the history of this by reading the book by Dawn Marshall, the sister of Jeanne Thompson called the Haitian problem.  You will see from that book that the way The Bahamas has been dealing with this problem in its modern incarnation is by round ups and repatriations.  Each government from the colonial government to the UBP to the PLP to the FNM and the last PLP to the FNM again has had the same policy.  The policy has been a failure because it has not stopped the migration, nor has its turned the tide of it.

In 1973, institutionalized discrimination was introduced when the law changed to strip those born here of parents who were not Bahamian on 9th July 1973 of their right to be Bahamian by birth.  We have been unable to deal with the applications for citizenship and we are unable to oust the children of those immigrants from Haiti out of the country.  One result is a seething group of individuals who cannot get the Bahamian status they desire, who know no other country,  who are in a country that needs their skills, yet they are unable to perform the most routine tasks because the country says they do not belong here.  The politician who dares to say “if you are born here,” you should be a citizen does so at his peril.

The solutions are both long term and short term.  They are not new or difficult or earth shattering.

First, the borders have to be guarded and they must be done in concert with the international community.

Secondly, there ought to be an early return to repatriations as soon as conditions permit

Thirdly, there is a need to make provisions for the detention centre to be properly equipped and other emergency facilities available if there is a huge influx to the country.

Fourthly, the government ought to establish clearly what its policies are and clear up any confusion which now exists.

In the long term, there is a need to work with the international community on reconstruction of physical infrastructure and Haiti’s economy.

Secondly, there is a need to settle the joint agreement between The Bahamas and Haiti which is already negotiated with a view to putting the long term basis of the connections between the countries on a formal basis.

Thirdly, Bahamian and Caricom investment and expertise are essential to Haiti’s forward development .  If we do not, then this country will always be on the receiving end rather than being at the proactive end of the policy.

There also has to be a national discussion on Haiti, her people and the connection with this country, our shared past and our likely shared future.  There is a fault line in the country that has opened up on this question between Haitians and Bahamians of Haitian descent that threatens civil strife if we are not careful.  It is incumbent upon us all to work to continue this and maintain peace in our society.

Those are some thoughts and I thank you very much indeed for asking me to come by.