February 7, 2012 -- Kim Ives, an editor of Haiti's largest circulation weekly newspaper, Haiti Liberté, recently completed a speaking tour to Winnipeg, Victoria and Vancouver, Canada, and Seattle, Washington in which he described the current political situation and outlook in post-earthquake Haiti.

The theme of his speaking engagements was Haiti: The Wikileaks Files. Ives is one of the lead writers, along with Dan Coughlin and Ansel Herz, of the series of articles published last year in Haiti Liberté and The Nation magazine based on revelations contained in nearly 2,000 U.S. government diplomatic cables that were provided to the two publications by the Wikileaks organization.

On this, the second anniversary of the January 12, 2010 earthquake in Haiti, the website of the Canada Haiti Action Network contains a rich collection of articles and studies looking at the perilous conditions still prevailing in the country and the challenges that lie ahead. Here is a selection of some of the articles:

-  Haiti After the Quake: Seven Places Where the Money Did and Did Not Go. This article is a remarkable insight into how aid pledges made in early 2010 have played out.

By Roger Annis
A Dec 28, 2011 report in the Montreal daily La Presse says Canada's belligerently right wing Minister of Foreign Affairs, John Baird, and his government are "not at all happy" with the pace and scope of earthquake recovery in Haiti. Baird cites a litany of issues that he thinks are not being adequately addressed by the Haitian government, including uncertainty over land ownership titles, health care, education and 'security.'

The La Presse article is reprinted in Le Nouvelliste, Haiti's semi-daily newspaper.

Christmas Day brought the tragic news of the loss of a ship along the coast of Cuba carrying 124 migrants from Haiti seeking a better life. Thirty-seven people perished, 87 were rescued by Cuba's coast guard. What has happened to the promised reconstruction of Haiti, two years following the earthquake of January 12, 2010? Why are Haitians taking desperate measures to flee their homeland or expressing their impatience or loss of hope in other forms?

Part of the answer can be found in the economic course being charted by Haiti's leaders as they follow the advice, nay, insistence, of the U.S., Canada and Europe that foreign investment in sweatshop factories will take the country forward. It's the "model" for Haiti's future, President Michel Martelly recently pronounced.