Foreign Affairs Committee on May 6th, 2024

[Christopher MacLennan]

Yes, but I don't know what the amount is exactly off the top of my head.

[Heather McPherson, NDP, Edmonton Strathcona, AB]

Thank you.

The next question I have for you, Minister, is around Gaza. We know that last week the United Nations reported that it would take until 2040 to restore the homes devastated in Israel's bombing and ground offensive in Gaza, and that's if the conflict ended today.

We are seeing a crime of “domicide”. The world hasn't seen anything like the unprecedented destruction of housing in Gaza since World War II. We also know that, with the unexploded ordinances and environmental destruction, the land in Gaza is now a significant hazard for rebuilding. In fact, scientists have said that the planet-warming emissions generated during just the first two months of the war in Gaza were greater than the annual carbon footprint of more than 20 of the world's most climate-vulnerable nations.

I asked the government months ago about the plan for the reconstruction of Gaza, and I really want to get an answer. What is the plan of the government? Will you clearly state now that Canada will not accept any solution that denies the right of Gazans to return to their land? What plans have you made for increasing Canadian assistance to help fund the rebuilding of Gaza for Gazans when this war is over?

There is a very deep concern that, as we rebuild Ukraine, as we rebuild Gaza and as we rebuild Sudan, people around the world will suffer if the money going to that rebuilding is coming off their backs, and the people who are living in these communities need support to rebuild their communities.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ali Ehsassi]

We are already 20 seconds over, so please respond as briefly as possible, Minister.

[Ahmed Hussen, Liberal, York South—Weston, ON]

Mr. Chair, that will be a challenge, because the member has asked perhaps four questions. I don't know which one to start with.

I'll say that we've been there for the Palestinian civilians in Gaza and we'll be there in the future. Of course, we are advocating for a ceasefire, so that we can allow more aid to go in and have unimpeded access for humanitarian workers.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ali Ehsassi]

Thank you.

As the members will notice, the bells are ringing. Do we have unanimous...?

Mr. Chong.

[Michael Chong, Conservative, Wellington—Halton Hills, ON]

Minister, I believe if you seek it, hopefully you will find it. It is that we continue to sit until the bells have expired and the question is put, that we then suspend to allow members to vote, and that we then come out of suspension once the Speaker has declared the result of the vote.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ali Ehsassi]

Is there unanimous consent to that?

Yes.

[Anita Vandenbeld, Liberal, Ottawa West—Nepean, ON]

My voting app is acting up right now. If I could go five minutes before, just in case it doesn't work....

[Michael Chong, Conservative, Wellington—Halton Hills, ON]

Mr. Chair, I'll reframe the unanimous consent question.

It is that the chair suspend five minutes before the bells have expired, that the committee remain suspended until the Speaker has declared the results of the vote, and that the committee come out of suspension at that point in time.

I believe that if you seek it, you will find it.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ali Ehsassi]

All heads are nodding. Excellent. Thank you very much.

Now we will go to the second round of questions. We will start off with MP Aboultaif.

You have five minutes.

[Ziad Aboultaif, Conservative, Edmonton Manning, AB]

Thank you, Chair. Welcome, Minister, to the committee.

Minister, you paused the assistance or aid to UNRWA for about six weeks. Is that correct?

[Ahmed Hussen, Liberal, York South—Weston, ON]

Yes, we did. That's roughly, not exactly.

[Ziad Aboultaif, Conservative, Edmonton Manning, AB]

What does that mean, technically? You announced that you were pausing the flow of money or assistance.

What happened in that case?

[Ahmed Hussen, Liberal, York South—Weston, ON]

As I indicated earlier in my question to your colleague, together with other donor countries, as well as the Secretary-General of the United Nations, we looked at this issue. We demanded and asked for enhanced accountability measures, enhanced oversight measures and tangible steps to be taken to address issues around neutrality and other issues.

I must say, in that time period, the UN Secretary-General, the UN system and UNRWA itself took a number of tangible steps to address our concerns and implement and institute additional oversight and accountability measures. Some of those are ongoing. Some of them have been completed, but some are ongoing. We expect that work to continue.

Based on those actions, we lifted the pause on additional funding to UNRWA.

[Ziad Aboultaif, Conservative, Edmonton Manning, AB]

There was a gap. You stopped the flow of funds, but people still needed that assistance on the ground. How did you manage to allocate the money or—

[Ahmed Hussen, Liberal, York South—Weston, ON]

In that time period, we also provided additional support to the tune of $40 million to other international trusted partners that were also active in Gaza, including the World Food Programme, UNICEF, the World Health Organization and others.

I want to challenge an underlying assumption that you are making in your question, which is that it was either UNRWA or the others. That wasn't the case. Even before the pause, in the first $60 million of assistance that Canada announced in response to the crisis in Gaza, some of it went to UNRWA, but most of it actually went to many other organizations, including the Humanitarian Coalition.

Our response has always been UNRWA and the other organizations, not one or the other.

[Ziad Aboultaif, Conservative, Edmonton Manning, AB]

On the record, I'm trying to clarify the fact and clarify the mechanism. It's clearly important for all of us to understand that.

Is there any specific program that you don't support, among UNRWA's programs or work?

[Ahmed Hussen, Liberal, York South—Weston, ON]

I don't understand the question. Do we oppose UNRWA's work? Is that what you're asking?

[Ziad Aboultaif, Conservative, Edmonton Manning, AB]

The question is—

[Ahmed Hussen, Liberal, York South—Weston, ON]

UNRWA provides life-saving support for Palestinians, which, by the way, is something I have never heard your party and your members talk about. In all this time, I haven't seen a single member of that caucus get up to talk about the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza, so the question—

[Ziad Aboultaif, Conservative, Edmonton Manning, AB]

Please let me finish. I think the premise of the question is this. I am saying UNRWA has several programs that it does, some with food, some with education, some with.... Is there any specific program that Canadian money does not support among what UNRWA does, or do we support everything it does? That's the question.

[Ahmed Hussen, Liberal, York South—Weston, ON]

We support the work of UNRWA to provide life-saving assistance to Palestinian civilians. That's what we do.

[Ziad Aboultaif, Conservative, Edmonton Manning, AB]

True, but are there any specific programs for which you say, I won't support this specific program?

[Ahmed Hussen, Liberal, York South—Weston, ON]

I don't understand the nature of the question. We provide funding to UNRWA to provide support to Palestinian civilians, and that includes delivering humanitarian support as well as education and other services.

[Ziad Aboultaif, Conservative, Edmonton Manning, AB]

I'm trying to understand how the money is going to be distributed. It's just a normal question. As I said earlier, there are certain areas that UNRWA.... UNRWA did a lot of work for so many years. We understand that, and I've lived through it somehow in the past. There is no surprise. I am asking a technical question about whether there are any programs you support more that UNRWA does, compared to others you don't.