MONTREAL — Former governor general Michaëlle Jean is lending her support to a joint project of the Montreal Jewish and Haitian communities to develop sustainable agriculture in Haiti.

Jean, who is now special envoy to that Caribbean island for UNESCO, thanked the Kanpe Foundation and the Canadian Friends of the Hebrew University (CFHU) for their initiative at the project’s Nov. 14 launch at the Montreal Science Centre.

The organizations hope to raise $1 million for the 10-year, two-phase project. The first phase is to send experts from the Hebrew University’s agricultural department to Haiti to train people there in how to improve farming techniques in the most ecological way.

The second phase will provide scholarships for Haitians to study at Hebrew University’s Rodney H. Smith faculty of agriculture, food and environment, which since 1986 has run an international program for students from developing countries.

Kanpe (Creole for “stand up”) is a Montreal-based organization that seeks to end the cycle of poverty by equipping Haitians with the skills and means that lead to economic independence.

Jean recalled that the Jewish presence in Haiti goes back to 1830 when Jews started finding refuge there from pogroms in the Middle East and later Europe. She noted that the Haitian government, unlike most others in the world, issued visas to those fleeing Nazi persecution in the 1930s.

The community grew to 300 families, before eventually dispersing by the 1960s.

Growing up in Haiti, Jean said she was well aware of the community through its commerce and institutions, such as a synagogue and two cemeteries.

It’s a relationship she is happy to see flourishing once again, something positive that has come out of catastrophe: the earthquake in January 2010.

She thanked Israel for rushing to the aid of Haitians and setting up the first field hospital after the devastation.

“My grandmother and mother taught me that education is the key to freedom, the freedom to make better choices,” said Jean, who is also University of Ottawa chancellor.

Jean hopes for a true partnership among Haitians, Israelis and Canadians in helping to rebuild the country, with Haitians not only on the receiving end, but able to share their knowledge as well.

In December, she plans to meet with representatives of the Université Roi Henri Christophe in the northern part of the country to gain their co-operation in the project.

“Haiti wants to learn, but it also has a lot to offer,” she said.

Jean believes this project will encourage Haitians to stay in their country after they have completed studies abroad. Unfortunately, she said, too many educated elsewhere don’t come back.

The earthquake brought the Montreal Jewish and Haitian communities (the latter numbers about 120,000) closer, and raised awareness of their historic ties.

Simon Bensimon, executive director of the CFHU, Montreal chapter, had the idea of extending the generosity the Jewish community had shown to earthquake relief over the longer term.

Hebrew University’s agricultural faculty was working in Africa, Asia and Central America, but a connection with Haiti back in the 1980s had lapsed, he said.

The project took shape after Dominique Anglade, Kanpe co-founder, who Bensimon had known when he worked at Concordia University, came on board. Her parents, both political activists, died in the earthquake.

The evening, called Terroir: Two Communities, Three Countries, One Goal, was hosted by television and radio host Isabelle Racicot, whose father was Haitian. She visited Israel last year.