An Island Once Under Dictatorship

Heroes Remember

An Island Once Under Dictatorship

Transcript

Well you have an Island that is under a dictatorship for so many, so many years. Everybody doesn't have to think. Everybody knows because everybody, the dictators tell them this is what you have to do over and over again and that's all they do. And now suddenly, I'm not quite sure which nation decided to say you're free, you are now democratic. Well, they're not trained to be free. They're not trained to be democratic. So now everybody reverts to survival, and there it goes. It just goes downhill from there. I think, these are all my opinions, I think that the charity and the help that we give these nations has to be a lot more thought out before we execute anything to free somebody up. Case in point, we were driving up above where we trained, the RCMP trained the Haitians for the national police force. There was four fire trucks in the field parked, side by side. Four, a few pumpers, a ladder truck and an EMS vehicle. We drove up to them and the plastic was still on the seats. The doors were open, unlocked I mean, brand spanking new trucks. The States had donated them to the Haitians. But, blind donations, the trucks are too big for the streets. They couldn't drive them anywhere. So there they are, they're probably there today rotting there still, brand new trucks. So you have to just not throw money at everything. You have to make a plan and follow it all the way through. We were there, Canadians, for such a short time. There was just no impact done whatsoever.

Description

Mr. Vaillancourt provides his opinion on the assistance military personnel provided to the Haitian people having little impact on improvements to their lifestyle.

Marc Vaillancourt

Mr. Vaillancourt was born April 22, 1957 in Sturgeon Falls, Ontario. After high school, Mr. Vaillancourt was interested in receiving a trade and with the desire to live the adventure of the military, age 19, he decided to join. At this time, Mr. Vaillancourt trained as a vehicle technician and joined with the Elelctricial Mechanical Engineer branch. Mr. Vaillacourt held rank as Master Warrant Officer. In 1990 Mr. Vaillacourt’s postings began as part of the 12th Armoured Regiment with a tour to Cyprus and in 1997 was part of a unit that travelled to Haiti; a specialized tour organized in Ottawa with only 5 soldiers in command. Mr. Vaillancourt was discharged from the military and now resides in Barrie, Ontario with his family.

Meta Data