Jean Saint-Vil
Jafrikayiti (Jean Saint-Vil) was born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on November 27, 1967. He completed his High School years at E.S. Champlain in Ottawa, Canada, where he first landed in April 1983. He is Deputy Director at the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) where he works since 1992.
Under the pen name Jafrikayiti, Saint-Vil also dabs into writing, painting and video production. His main publications include: the series LAFIMEN: Listwa Pèp Ayisyen Depi Nan Ginen, 2006 (CD 2&3) and 2003 (CD#1) - audio recordings on the history of the Haitian People; Viv Bondye ! Aba Relijyon!, 2000 - Book, essay on spirituality and the Afro-Haitian experience with Christianity; If Garvey Was Here - Video documentary, 2001; Representing YBM Productions - Video documentary, 2001. He is also a contributor to Dlo se lavi - book by Antonio Miguel and Li, Ekri Konprann - Yon Ti Jaden Kreyòl - book by several authors.
Co-founder of Ottawa-based pan-African organization Jaku Konbit, Jafrikayiti is also an artist-activist immersed in the Global Peace and Social Justice movement, regular host of two radio programs: Bouyon-Rasin at the University of Ottawa’s C.H.U.O 89.1 F.M and Rendez-vous Haitien at Carleton University’s C.K.C.U 93.1 F.M. He has been a featured political analyst on CBC radio and television, Embassy Magazine, ZNet, CPAC, and Rogers Ottawa Television.
A University of Waterloo (Hon. B.Sc., Biology) graduate, married and father of two, Jafrikayiti lives in Ottawa-Gatineau but returns to Haiti on a regular basis.
Selected conference contributions:
Conference on Anti-Black Racism in Canada, African Canadian Legal Clinic, Ottawa, March 2009
The Ottawa Initiative on Haiti 2009, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, February 2009
Making our History Today: From Taharka to Dessalines to Obama, McGill U. Montreal, February 2009
Les enjeux de la renaissance africaine, UQTR, Trois-Rivières, QC, February 2009
Bondye pa blan, Makandal pa dyab! Port-au-Prince, Haiti, July 2008 & Miami, USA, August 2008
Répercussion et conséquences de la révolution haitienne, Montreal & Ottawa, Canada, February 2008
African Film Festival, Schumberg Centre for Research in Black Culture, New-York, February 2005
World Social Forum, Caracas, Venezuela, January 2006
8e édition des Rencontres internationales du documentaire de Montréal, novembre 2005
Challenging Imperialism, Toronto, Canada, February 2005
Fighting Imperialism from Kanesatake to Haiti, Montreal, Canada, January 2005
African Socialist International Conference, London, England, July 2004
Nesesite rakonte listwa pèp Ayisyen anKreyol, Port-au-Prince, Haiti, December 2003 and January 2004.