Coalition wants ex-president of Haiti barred from Montreal performance

A coalition of seven Montreal organizations is pressing Canadian politicians to keep  former Haitian president Michel Martelly from appearing on stage in Montreal this Friday.

The coalition, comprised of mainly Haitian-Canadians, says Martelly, who sings under the stage name of Sweet Micky, is a misogynist whose songs promote violence against women.

The coalition has written letters to politicians, including Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Montreal Mayor Valerie Plante, asking them to do something similar to what former Montreal mayor Denis Coderre did in 2016 when he made it clear that controversial French comedian Dieudonne was not welcome in Montreal, a city whose Haitian population numbers about 132,000.

Coalition members say there may well be protests if Martelly goes forward with his show, a threat that promoter Edward Osias, the president of Bass-Mint Management Group, is taking in stride.

“He’s a provocateur,” Osias told Morgan Lowrie of Canadian Press.

“He’ll wear a skirt. He’ll say stupid things. He’ll make jokes. He’s an artist who provokes controversy.”

Members of the coalition see it another way.

“I’m not particularly in favour of censorship, but hateful speech that calls for violence towards a group of people–half the population–I feel is not acceptable,” Marie Dimanche, founder of the support group Solidarite Quebec-Haiti, told CP.

While serving as Haiti’s president, Martelli was not adverse to using his musical skills to go after opponents, including a journalist in Feb. 2016.

Whether or not their appeal falls on deaf ears, members of the coalition, who include the community organization Maison d’Haiti, are taking a wait-and-see approach as they continue to try to make their case.

I spoke by phone with Marjorie Villefranche, a long-time human rights activist, who is the director-general of Maison d’Haiti,  about what confrontation.

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With files from CP, CBC, Postmedia