
The polemic over the Haitian presence, in the Bahamas, is an 80-year-old ongoing, unsettled debate. For Haiti, its economic and social fortunes began on a perilous journey ever since the Haitian Revolution (14 Aug 1791 – 1 Jan 1804) and the days of incredible Haitian revolutionaries: Toussaint L’Ouverture, Henry Christophe and Jean-Jacques Dessalines.
Haiti’s rocky economic path, almost since the year 1800, began with an enforced slavery reparation payment to France which depleted its gold reserves. This was quickly followed by an early procession of endless petit revolutions, significant dictators, military takeovers, foreign occupation, national violence and crushing poverty. All of it combined with the occasional catastrophic natural disaster, have sent black Haitian nationals fleeing to just about every country in the Caribbean, as well as Central America, South America, North America, Canada, France and the Bahamas.
With an unfathomable number who have fled their homeland, over the past two hundred years or so, it is easy to forget that Haiti is a geographically important mineral rich country, with a thriving middle and wealthy class. Haiti, sits pridefully, as a stunningly beautiful, vastly resourced nation. But for its economic and social problems, it would be the envy of the world.
The debate over Haitian illegal migration across international borders, has been tabled by many law makers, in a number of countries, including the United States and Dominican Republic over the decades.
For the Bahamas, like in other countries, Haitians filled critical labour vacuums in the islands during its progression into a top tourist destination. Labour vacuums in the Bahamas, presented themselves in waves and troughs – largely aligned with foreign investment pushing the country into upward cycles of economic expansion. However, in periods of economic contraction, slowdowns and stalls, tensions sometimes arose between Bahamians and Haitians, especially in blue collar labour employment areas. The fight to secure a livelihood, often resulted in calls for reviews of immigration laws.
With more access to tertiary education, more access to higher level jobs and a Bahamianization employment quota being enforced, a Bahamian middle class began to emerge in the 1970s. This opened up employment opportunities for newly landed Haitian nationals in domestic and blue collar work once largely the domain of Bahamians. Haitians landing illegally, and legally, began to quickly fill the labour vacuum created as Bahamians began to move up the economic ladder. The 1970s and 1980s not only allowed Bahamians to move up the economic ladder, but also every other Caribbean nationality, in the Bahamas, advanced at that time as well.
Problems arose however when waves of illegal immigrants continued unabated. As more were moved up the economic ladder, more and more came, illegally. Tensions continued to rise. Many years of continued illegal migration had wearied the sympathies of receiving countries.
Nevertheless, what remains undisputed is that countless jobs, both domestic and industrial, blue collar and white collar jobs, contributing to the overall economic success of the Bahamas, simply would have been that more difficult, if not impossible, to accomplish without the labour of Haitian migrants.
NUMBERS PROVED STAGGERING AS TIME WENT ON
As early as 1959, the influx of illegal nationals began to attract international attention as the number of deportations began to make headlines. By 1962, with an estimated 10,000 illegal nationals in the Bahamas, the topic was heatedly debated in the House of Assembly. By June 1967, just a few months after the historic change in the composition of the Bahamian government, from a white minority government to a majority rule government, the numbers of Haitians nationals were estimated to be between 20,000 to 30,000.
(Tallahassee Democrat Sunday 26 December 1982)
1959 – 3,000 Haitian Nationals In Bahamas Illegally
By 1959, it was estimated that some 3,000 Haitian nationals had already entered the Bahamas illegally.