From Haiti to Montreal: exile that takes root

In 1957, François Duvalier took power in Haiti and gradually installed a dictatorship. A first wave left: intellectuals, writers, professionals. Many chose Montreal, the great French-speaking city of the Americas. By the end of the 1960s, the vast majority of Haitian immigrants to Canada were choosing Quebec, drawn in particular by the French language. From 500 exiles in Montreal in 1967, the number rose to more than 3,700 in 1971. In 1973 and 1974, Haitians were the largest group of immigrants arriving in Quebec.

The welcome was not always easy. Many turned to taxi driving, food service or health care. Taxi drivers faced discrimination. In the early 1980s, the Canadian Red Cross refused blood from members of the Haitian community, associating them with the AIDS virus without concrete evidence.

Faced with these trials, the community organized. As early as 1972, the Maison d'Haïti and the Bureau de la communauté haïtienne de Montréal were founded to help newcomers find their place. The 2021 Census counted 178,990 people of Haitian origin in Canada, 156,070 of them in Quebec. Their story recalls a very Ubuntu truth: no one puts down roots alone; we put down roots together.