In January 2010, just as he was finishing a book on the history of social movements in Quebec, Sean Mills decided to go to Haiti. Before he had a chance to leave, the January 12 earthquake struck the country, ending the lives of hundreds of thousands of Haitians, and dramatically changing the destiny of millions of others.
In the wake of tragedy, Haitians in Montreal mobilized, rendering visible all the complex connections between Quebec and Haiti. Leaders of the diaspora successfully pressured politicians to remove barriers to the migration process and organized resources to support and welcome relatives.
Meanwhile, Quebec media relayed images of the devastation, spurring the public to make donations. The strength of the collective mobilization left a deep impression on Mills, and so he set out to write a history of the multifaceted relationships between Haiti, Haitians and Quebec. Moving away from a long tradition of studies that seek to make sense of...
Emilie Nicolas is a PhD candidate in anthropology at the University of Toronto. She is the co-founder and president of Québec inclusif, a movement that fights racism and the social exclusion of minorities in Quebec society.
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