Its radio to speak and raise awareness for 24 years
Jean Numa Goudou ·
"We are still here despite many difficulties" - Jean Ernest Pierre
"I take responsibility for everything," thunders Jean Ernest Pierre, this Quebecer of Haitian origin who founded CPAM1410 in Montreal 24 years ago against all odds. Born in Gonaïves, he left his hometown at 21 for the capital, Port-au-Prince, after a few years at Radio Indépendance.
He would venture into civil engineering due to "employment opportunity," he says, which earned him the title of engineer.
"I built a house and I'm told it's still standing," he tells us with a burst of laughter.
This was 1980. Right after, engineer Pierre left his homeland for Canada and settled in Quebec, in Montreal.
When he saw the Olympic Stadium, he told himself he couldn't be an engineer here. He began brewing ideas about different careers in his head, awakening dreams he had cherished.
Odd jobs
In the meantime, to put bread and butter on the family table, Jean Ernest Pierre would string together odd jobs. First, as a "bossboy" (server's assistant) at the Hilton Hotel in Dorval where the assigned server "gave him a tip from the tip."
He left this job six months later to work as a production controller in a factory. He worked 12-hour shifts crunching numbers. The entry of a union pushed the company to exit the market, as management didn't want it. And he went back to school. One session at Cegep Édouard Monpetit in Longueuil, before entering law at Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM).
"I always wanted to be a lawyer. Engineer was an employment opportunity in Haiti." He caught the law bug during the famous "stamp trial" under Duvalier.
His time at Radio Indépendance in Gonaïves from age 18 never left him. Alongside his job, he hosted "Operasyon tèt ansanm," a Haitian community awareness show on CHAA FM, a community radio in Longueuil.
At that time, news from Haiti was delayed for the community here. "We would send a cassette via Air Canada. A week later, we'd broadcast reheated news," he recalls. A more regular, more immediate communication channel was needed.
2002, he creates CPAM.
Meanwhile, Jean Ernest Pierre became a lawyer with the Quebec Bar and left his engineering past in Haiti behind. Helped by "someone," he says, for technical aspects, Me. Pierre tried to find funds to invest in his project. He contacted two Haitians, one of whom was his client.
One of them finally agreed, on condition that he set up an office in the radio's premises to monitor his investment. He said no. Jean Ernest Pierre turned to family to find money. The first console he acquired died the moment he installed it, to show you how difficult the beginning was for him.
"I'm convinced that if I had obtained those funds from friends at the time, the radio would be closed today, asserts the CPAM director, Haitians aren't capable of working together."
His radio to speak
"We're still here despite many difficulties," he adds. Several times, the CRTC has threatened to revoke the radio's license due to non-compliance issues. The regulatory body requires self-evaluation reports and a complete and accurate music list, which allegedly wasn't done properly by the station.
Each time, Mr. Pierre manages to regularize the situation. "The problem today is financing the radio through advertising. I won't hide it, it's a daily battle. And increasingly a battle," he says, "because there are too many offerings targeting the community."
The lawyer now states that "the radio no longer belongs to me, but to the community," even though it remains a private enterprise. But, he believes, people consider it community heritage.
The succession isn't there
Asked about his retirement, Jean Ernest Pierre concedes that like everyone else "all our days are numbered. At some point you have to prepare for retirement," says the one who "doesn't know when" he'll take it. "I tell all those who love me that the day they hear me rambling to tell me it's time." But Mr. Pierre doesn't promise he'll listen.
"We always think we have something to say," he says. People say he's "difficult." "Maybe it's true," the lawyer retorts to his detractors, "except that it allows us to have a radio for 24 years." Jean Ernest Pierre remains whole, true to himself. When asked what he would have done differently, he doesn't even hesitate, doesn't reflect: "Honestly, not to be pretentious, but nothing, nothing. I take responsibility for everything," responds with confidence the one who is very present on air on his radio. This earns him criticism, but it rolls off him like water off a duck's back.
"Running the radio without doing radio myself, no, no, no..." thunders the lawyer who says he's inspired by agronomist Jean Léopold Dominique from Radio Haïti Inter, exaggerating it "just a little bit."
"He was very present on his radio, that's exactly what I wanted to do" - J.E. Pierre