Success stories - Micheline Gélin: Coming full circle

January 2011

For Micheline, life has taken her from Haiti to Canada and back.

When she arrived in Canada she was only seven years old. As a young girl she wasn’t too concerned about moving to a foreign country, the only thing on her mind was to learn French quickly so she could make friends when she started school in Montreal.

“It just goes to show you how truly resilient children are. I came to Canada at such a young age that the only hurdle for me was to practice my French. Once I learned to speak fluently that was it — I was Canadian — no different than my friends.”

Micheline and her family settled in Montreal North where there was already a small Haitian community. “My family chose Canada because of its reputation for having a culture of acceptance and welcoming towards immigrants.”

One of the things that surprises her the most is how ethnically and culturally diverse Canada is. She has friends from all kinds of backgrounds and cultures. When you ask someone why they came to Canada they always give the same response: “They all left home because something was missing, whether it was peace, security, opportunity — and they all found what was missing in Canada,” she says.

Micheline’s ties to Montreal North and its diverse community are what motivated her to join the Montreal Police Service. She felt that her heart was in the police force serving the public. She was particularly drawn by how close the service works with the cultural communities in the area. “I had lived there my whole life. It was my community and I felt a special bond to it.”

In the Fall of 2009 Micheline was selected to participate in the RCMP’s International Peace Operation Program, where Canadian civilian police are deployed to Haiti to act as advisors to the Haitian National Police. Her mission was from October 21, 2009, to July 21, 2010.

When she arrived, she was first tasked with providing introduction training to the police staff coming from around the world that were participating in the Haiti mission. Then the earthquake hit....

Every time Micheline thinks back to that fateful day it’s hard for her to hold back the tears. “The devastation was unbelievable, unimaginable,” she says. “You never forget where you were when you experience something like that. It may have lasted a few minutes but it felt like an eternity.”

Micheline’s first memory , after the shock of what happened finally settled a little, is of the bond she felt between Canadians. “It was truly moving,” she says. “The first instinct we all had was to assemble together. We would go looking for a fellow Canadian in our camp, and as soon as they were located and joined the group, we moved on to locate the next fellow Canadian still not accounted for.”

In the first few days following the earthquake Micheline helped out as an interpreter in one of the emergency clinics. Her ability to speak French, English and Creole was a huge asset during this period of crisis. She would inform the patients of the treatment they were receiving and would also use her police skills to collect information on where they came from and if they had any missing relatives.

Following this, Micheline worked in the camps, helping to set up communal police stations. She describes the work as being very gratifying. Micheline’s work was so instrumental that she was invited to speak as a representative at the United Nations Stabilization Mission (MINUSTAH) conference in New York.

“What was paramount to me in participating in this mission was to use the advantages I had gained through my life in Canada and be able to give back, and especially to my native country. I wanted to make a difference, and being there at that time, allowed me to make a difference — that’s what the mission meant to me. My life came full circle — it was a wonderful feeling.”

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