On Canadian diplomatic comments about Guyana’s elections

Dear Editor,

Allow me to comment on an 896-word Letter to the Editor (LTE) by Citizen Audreyanna Thomas in the media (December 2, 2025).

Thomas criticises Dr. Walter Persaud who has aired some concerns about the undiplomatic conduct of the Canadian High Commissioner to Guyana. Dr. ‘Walter’s’ concern is that HC Sébastien Sigouin went beyond the boundaries of diplomatic protocol by effectively calling on the Guyanese people to rise up and demand electoral reform.

I agree with Dr. Walter whose main point is that HC Sébastien Sigouin comment is a product of privileged cosmopolitanism and an uneven international order, one in which developing nations can be lectured to, but in return have little or no voice. Do you think a Caribbean diplomat in Canada can make a statement in the Globe and Mail or CBC on the horrific economic, cultural, and political marginalization of the Inuit, Métis and First Nations peoples?

The grounds for such ‘intervention’ are ripe. For instance, the Canadian Centre for Justice and Community Safety Statistics reported the following –

• More than one-third of those who experienced sexual or physical violence while under the legal responsibility of the [Canadian] government during their childhood were Indigenous.
• For the period from 2015 to 2020, the average homicide rate involving Indigenous victims … was six times higher than the homicide rate involving non-Indigenous victims…
• One-third of Indigenous people experienced discrimination in the five years preceding the survey – [likely 2019] ( Perreault, 7/19/2022)

The same report noted that “[d]ue to the historical and ongoing colonialism and related policies…as well as individual and systemic racism, many Indigenous people today deal with intergenerational trauma, [and] socioeconomic marginalization (Ibid; emphasis added).

No less a source than Canada’s Department of Justice recently reported that “Indigenous people in Canada have a higher unemployment rate, and lower levels of educational attainment than non-Indigenous people.” They [also] have disproportionately more inadequate housing and poorer health outcomes”

By now, you should get the point. There are numerous bases for Caribbean diplomats to call on the Inuit, Métis and First Nations peoples to rise up and demand change, including electoral reform, in Canada. But they haven’t, and basically, they can’t because it would be deemed a breach of protocol. That is the point that Dr. Walter was making.

The truth of the matter is that all independent reports have noted that Guyana’s 2025 General and Regional Elections were free and fair. The EU Report itself, while agreeing with the determination of a free and fair election, was also excessive in its reach by stating that the poll was done in the context of division. I ask, which country in Europe during an election don’t you have “…deep political polarisation and mistrust…”? Europe is now being ripped apart by neo-fascist parties, anti-immigrant hysteria, asylum, the Ukraine-Russia war, rampant racism, and a nearly unfathomable level of polarisation and distrust. In closing, let me insist that Canada has historically played an important and constructive role in Guyana, and especially so with respect to General and National Elections. The intent of this LTE is to encourage the further development of an already productive relationship. I close with Good Greetings to His Excellency, Sébastien Sigouin.