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Telling Lives, Making Place
The Narratives of Three Haitian Refugees in Montreal
Jonathan Roux
A Thesis
in
The Department
of
Geography, Planning and Environment
Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
for the Degree of Master of Science (Geography, Urban & Environmental Studies) at
Concordia University
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
July 2009
©Jonathan Roux 2009
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ABSTRACT
Telling Lives, Making Place
The Narratives of Three Haitian Refugees in Montreal
Jonathan Roux
This is the qualitative study of the life-story accounts of three Haitian political
refugees in Montreal. The objective of this thesis is to examine how place is told,
negotiated and made by these individuals. This research reveals dynamic forms of place-
making, where the past, present, lived and imagined overlap, putting forward ever-
transforming, hybrid places.
Mrs. Elizabeth Philibert, Mr. Ceradieu Toussaint and Mr. Frantz Voltaire are three
Haitian political activists who were forced to exile by the Duvalier regime in the 1970s.
After diverse trajectories, they have established themselves permanently in Montreal.
They have recounted their stories to me in depth, taking the time to unfold each episode
of their lives they found relevant. These accounts were collected using the methods of
'life-story interviewing', where interviewer and interviewee are seen as having a shared
authority over the narrative process. These interviews are a component of a larger life-
story collecting project entitled: Life Stories of Montrealers Displaced by War, Genocide,
and other Human Rights Violations.
In this thesis, each account is treated as a narrative entity, and is therefore written as a
separate story, in order to convey to the reader a sense of each particular discourse
construction. Then, these stories are used as a base for a transdisciplinary interpretation of
individual and cultural place-making processes.
iii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This thesis has been made possible thanks to the time, warmth and help of many people.
First I would like to thank my supervisor, Dr. Alan Nash, for his support and patience in
times of indolent delays and of panicked stress. I also thank you my thesis committee, Dr.
Julie Podmore and Dr. Carolyn Fick, for their insight and sharp comments. Thank you to
Dr. Brian Ray, the external examiner, for his kindness, helpful review and rapidity. I am
as well thankful to Dr. Jim Freeman for orienting me towards a lot of the literature.
Many thoughts to Concordia's geography department, with its gloomy graduate offices
and its cheerful people.
I am especially grateful to the CURA Life Stories Project, which introduced me to the
very best of the university world: a captivating project regrouping people from many
horizons sharing a deep engagement and working with passion. I can never thank them
enough for not only their support but also all the conferences and activities they made me
discover and take part in. Dr. High, Anna, Sandra, Eve-Lyne Paul and the hundreds of
others, what you are undertaking is amazing.
Thank you to the Haiti Research Group who accepted me and trusted me so fast.
Thank you to all the people at the CIDIHCA, for this literary island in the middle of Old
Montreal.
Thank you to the Concordia Libraries, for their solid collection but also for letting me
organize this unusual exposition.
Coline, Pat, Mat, Chabi, Denisse, Ryan(s), Tom, Rose, Ricky, Ari, Elyse, Anto, you were
often there at the right time!
A special thanks to Lucie for her comments and incredible patience.
Above all, none of this would have been possible without Elizabeth, Ceradieu and Frantz.
What they shared with me is unbelievably precious.
How can I thank you? This thesis is yours.
IV
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Epigraph ix
Chapter One: Introduction 1
Encounters 1
Research Question 3
Literature Review 7
a) Place-making 7
b) Identity 15
c) Borders 19
d) Naratives of Displacement 24
• Refuges and Place 25
• Refuges and Identity 26
• Refuges and Borders 27
Literature Review Conclusion 28
Methodology 30
The Colection of Life Stories 30
Oral History 32
A Shared Authority 35
Themes adresed 39
The CURA Life Stories Project 41
Choice of People 4
A Brief Chronology 48
Chapter Two: Elizabeth Philibert 51
A bowl of joumou 51
Haiti (1948-1973) 53
Cete richese-la qui est lafamile 53
Political activism: et ca a comence a etre tres dur pour nous. 56
In prison: / y avait ausi cete peur quand on ouvrait les portes 59
About prison: et pourtant il y avait un amandier parmi tout ca 63
Mexico, Chile & Cuba (1973-1978) 65
Liberation: on n'a rien compris 65
Love: c 'est drole on a fait connaisance. et puis on a fait connaisance 67
Cuba: Cuba c 'etait pour nous. 68
Montreal (1978 to present) 71
Arival: je me suis prepare mentalementpour venir ici 71
Quebec and Quebeckers: c'est a toi d'aler vers eux 73
Recreating Haiti: en hiverje recre I'ete avec ces arbres-la 76
Chapter Thre: Ceradieu Tousaint 81
A blind man with a piercing eyesight 81
Methodological Details: An atempt to concretize Shared Authority 83
Haiti (1935-1972) 85
Childhod years: Une petite localite rurale 85
Entering political activism: la gang desjeunes qui voulaient avancer
la cause du pays 89
Hiding in Artibonite: le maquis 93
Back to (political) busines: j'occupais de hautes fonctions dans le parti 95
Prison: I'enfer 97
Massive Execution: On etait 77prisonnierspolitiques. On en afusile 72. 99
Liberation and post-prison strugle: j'etais pas bien vu dans le pays 101
Montreal (1972 to now) 104
Pure laine, c'est les quebecois blancs qui sont nes ici. 104
Je compare souvent Haiti et le Quebec 108
Conclusion 1
Chapter Four: Frantz Voltaire 15
Two Budhist Monks 15
Port-au-Prince I (1948-1967): On etait vraiment borderline, comme on dit 12
Important places in Port-au-Prince 126
vi
Schol & Political consciousnes 128
Santiago de Chile (1967-1973): Une vile bouilonante 134
Montreal I (1973-75): fa m'apermis de soufler 137
Mexico City (1975-197) 138
Port-au-Prince I (197-1979) : au milieu de toute cete efervescence 139
Montreal I (1979-today): Les identites s'ajoutent 14
Work and the CIDIHCA: une plateforme 146
J'ai une geographic de la vile 151
Chapter Five: The 'Place of Place' in the Naratives: An interpretative esay 156
1) Making Place: the personal experience of globalized flows 158
2) The poetics of exile 163
Mrs. Philibert: On pouvait dire qu'on etait bien a cete epoque-la. 16
Mr. Tousaint: J'y arive je suis come un etranger 168
Mr. Voltaire, the perpetual movement 170
3) Montreal: The city lived, made and imagined 173
Navigating the strets 17
Mr. Voltaire's favourite stret corner 178
Mrs. Philibert's itinerary descriptions 179
Mr. Tousaint's circumvolutions 181
4) Placing Comunity 182
Places of identity 184
Haiti: a re-negotiated homeland 186
5) Borders overflowing 192
Chapter Six: Conclusion 196
Life-stories in geography and social science: fascinating and contestable 196
'Memories of Displacement' 203
Poetics of Place 206
VI
Bibliography 209
Apendices 216
th
Appendix 1: Haitian Anti-Communist Laws promulgated on the 28 April
1969 (left column). Photocopied from the CIDIHCA archives,
April 209. 216
th
Appendix 2: New York Times, January 24 1973 about the kidnapping of
Clinton Knox 217
th
Appendix 3: New York Times, January 25 , 1973 about the liberation of
Clinton Knox and of Haitian political prisoners (including
Elizabeth Philibert) 218
th
Appendix 4: New York Times, September 24 1979, about the arrest of Mr.
Sylvo Claude in Haiti. The arrest and expulsion of Frantz Voltaire
is mentioned 219
Appendix 5: CURA/ARUC 'Life-Story' Project's ethical guidelines, accessible
at Concordia's Center for Oral History and Digital Storytelling,
printed in April 209 20
Appendix 6: Example of a CURA Life Stories Project Consent Form, signed by
,h
Ceradieu Tousaint, on the 18 March 209 23
vin
