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Do the Quebeckers of Haitian origin who are political figures tend to come from elite families?
Not necessarily. How many elite families are there in or from Haiti anyway? Not many, if any, would be my guess.
One of Canada's previous Governors General, Michaelle Jean, was from Haiti and she and her parents and sister were certainly not members of Haiti's elite. They were refugees from Haiti who fled to Canada in the late 1960's to escape the persecution and torture of the Haitian president of that time. Here is her story:
Not necessarily. How many elite families are there in or from Haiti anyway? Not many, if any, would be my guess.
One of Canada's previous Governors General, Michaelle Jean, was from Haiti and she and her parents and sister were certainly not members of Haiti's elite. They were refugees from Haiti who fled to Canada in the late 1960's to escape the persecution and torture of the Haitian president of that time. Here is her story:
Some Haitian families were elites until Duvalier came into power. They may have left with little, but they eventually re-established themselves in their new country. Like many of the first-generation Cuban exiles.
Dominique Anglade is a Montreal born politician whose Haitian parents left in opposition to the Duvalier regime. Her father was part of the diaspora’s intellectual elite that scattered but also came back to help at various times when Baby Doc was kicked out. In fact, her parents unfortunately died in the 2010 earthquake in Haiti.
There is an elite that left Haiti that first emigrated to Quebec, France and the US in the sixties and then followed by lower and middle classes.
There are also contemporary political leaders who have massive mansions in Greater Montreal and send their kids to study here, but that is another story.
Michaëlle Jean was not from a poor refugee family. They were refugees because they found themselves on the wrong side of Haïtian politics.
Nobody said her family was poor but they weren't a wealthy family either. Her father was a high school principal before they fled Haiti but I don't believe they were what I'd call an elite family there, which is what I understood the OP to be asking about. And they weren't elites after they came to Canada either, the parents broke up in Canada and the mom moved herself and the girls to a cheap basement suite and raised her daughters all on her own. Everything Michaëlle Jean has accomplished has been by her own merit and personal dedication and hard work. One thing nobody could call her is an elitist.
Élite isn't just about money, it's about values, attitude, discipline, manners, etc.
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