Outgoing Canadian Ambassador André François Giroux defended the merits of Ottawa’s sanctions and maintained that it is up to voters to decide whether or not to elect those targeted, and up to the justice system to take up the baton, in an interview with Le Nouvelliste before taking up his new post as his country’s ambassador to the OAS. “It is up to the voters to make the choice. I strongly believe in the Canadian sanctions regime,” the diplomat said.

“For us, it is a way of contributing. It is a way of saying that we have reasons, information, good information, that allow us to believe that these individuals are contributing to the chaos. After that, it is up to the Haitian justice system to take up the baton. And if these people meet the technical requirements of the decree [Editor’s note: electoral decree], then it is up to the voters to decide whether they deserve to be elected or not,” André François Giroux said, stressing that “they were sanctioned by us because there were credible reasons to believe.”