Evidence of meeting #45 for Foreign Affairs and International Development in the 41st Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was humanitarian.
A recording is available from Parliament.
11:50 a.m.
Conservative
Lois Brown Conservative Newmarket—Aurora, ON
World Vision, do you have any access in those difficult areas?
11:50 a.m.
Director, Humanitarian and Emergency Affairs, World Vision Canada
In the case of Iraq we are working exclusively in the Kurdish-controlled areas, so areas of relative stability. We have had operations in northern Syria where we operated from Turkey, cross-border. That's been an engagement that has gone up and down to be frank. We started pretty much at the beginning of the crisis where we were working in several areas in the north. As ISIL took over those areas, we were able to maintain operations there for quite some time, but during the period leading up to the aerial bombing campaign we had to suspend those operations. We've now restarted in some of the other areas in northern Syria, but at a very modest level. I think she described it very accurately in terms of trying to find those ways in which we can do it within the framework of the humanitarian principles and where we can have accountability in terms of reaching the most vulnerable.
11:50 a.m.
Conservative
Lois Brown Conservative Newmarket—Aurora, ON
You were delivering blankets, food stuffs, shelters, and medicines into as many areas as you could. How successful has that been, getting those things in?
11:50 a.m.
Director, Humanitarian and Emergency Affairs, World Vision Canada
Go ahead.
11:50 a.m.
Country Director, United Nations World Food Programme
I'll speak to this one. We run a very coordinated response. There is something called a “rapid response mechanism”, which is a conglomeration of UN agencies and NGO partners who, when we know that new places are open for access or we have new areas of displacement, provide a coordinated response package. People will get water, some medicines, food, and services for women—women's dignity kits. When we go in we have no reason to think that the assistance is not getting there. We have very good relationships with the NGO partners, both international and national, and we have no reason to believe that it does not arrive. We get good feedback from it, and we feel fairly confident that it's reaching the people who need it the most.
11:50 a.m.
Conservative
Lois Brown Conservative Newmarket—Aurora, ON
Thank you.
Martin, could we go back to a conversation about the peace process? You mentioned the Geneva conference that took place about a year ago now. I express a concern. In Canada I know we graduate people from conflict and peace studies, and yet.... I guess my question is: where are the peacemakers? What do we need to do? How can we help, and how do we build that governance structure in Iraq that is going to ultimately bring peace to that country?
11:50 a.m.
Director of Policy, World Vision Canada
To make it very concrete, to World Vision as a child-focused organization, one of the things we're able to do in Jordan and in Lebanon is to work directly not so much with children but with adolescents, who we feel have a key stake in the future of Syria when they return, in order to really be able to provide them with the kind of soft skill set that they'll need to rebuild that social fabric when we have a sustainable peace.
On the larger political process, really as a humanitarian organization I'd like to leave that to those who engage with that in a little bit more detail. But there cannot be a sustainable future for Syria unless we are able to work with—the term that has been used a lot is “no lost generation”—Syrian children and youth who have had to flee, in order to equip them with the kinds of skills they need to build that country back. We can gladly elaborate on that in another round, but that to us is a key concern, equipping young people with the kinds of skills they will need in the future.
11:55 a.m.
Liberal
The Vice-Chair Liberal Marc Garneau
Thank you.
We will now begin the second round of questions.
Ms. Laverdière and Mr. Saganash will share their five minutes.
11:55 a.m.
Liberal
The Vice-Chair Liberal Marc Garneau
Sorry, I made a mistake.
I'm obviously very temporary here. I apologize.
Mr. Hawn is up first. My apologies.
11:55 a.m.
Conservative
Laurie Hawn Conservative Edmonton Centre, AB
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you all for being here.
I want to direct a couple of questions to Mr. Gignac first.
Recently in some of the areas that have been recaptured by peshmerga, there have been some indications of some atrocities being carried out by them, which seemed to be more about revenge against ISIS. How concerned are you about that and that spilling over into a broadening of violence perpetrated by the very folks who we are supporting?
11:55 a.m.
Coordinator, Northern Iraq, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
I don't know if you can hear me, but yes, we've heard of reports, in particular in Kirkuk, where allegedly peshmerga fighters were mistreating bodies of killed ISIS fighters. I think this is something that the authorities in the region have condemned very strongly. The impression we have is that it is not something that is supported by the wider population, and I would say that these are what we could call isolated incidents. I don't think this would be a trend that would...[Inaudible--Editor].
We've seen other cases elsewhere in Iraq clearly between the Shia community and the Sunni, and their rights...and atrocities are often committed. I think that's part of the major problem Iraq will have to face. It's not only about making peace but after that it will be about reconciliation and establishing the political process that is under way right now but is still very fragile. I will leave it here. I hope this responds to your question.
11:55 a.m.
Conservative
Laurie Hawn Conservative Edmonton Centre, AB
One of the issues that has concerned people around the world in various scenarios is human trafficking.
Mr. Witteveen, I think you may be the best one to answer this. Is there a problem with human trafficking in the camps in Iraq?
11:55 a.m.
Director, Humanitarian and Emergency Affairs, World Vision Canada
I think when you have a context such as exists in the Kurdish area—encampment, people trying to find a livelihood within the urban centres, high vulnerability—this will always be an issue, and I can't quantify it.
11:55 a.m.
Conservative
Laurie Hawn Conservative Edmonton Centre, AB
Is World Vision looking at that, trying to address that, or at least highlighting that?
11:55 a.m.
Director, Humanitarian and Emergency Affairs, World Vision Canada
We're certainly monitoring that. We don't have programs addressing that issue at this point, but it's certainly something that within our child protection interventions we would monitor closely. But I think it's fair to say that the vulnerability that supports that kind of activity exists.
11:55 a.m.
Conservative
Laurie Hawn Conservative Edmonton Centre, AB
Mr. Fischer, you talked about the three priorities and you talked about distinguishing between the humanitarian aspect and the military aspect. How would you suggest we distinguish between those two in ways that we're not doing now?
11:55 a.m.
Director of Policy, World Vision Canada
As all three of us as well as Mr. Gignac have mentioned, the importance of humanitarian assistance is that it be delivered based on humanitarian principles as well as the humanitarian imperative. I think the key for parliamentarians, really, is that as we look into the immediate future, when we look at considering what the Canadian Forces mission will look like after the initial first six months, we need to have that conversation separately from considerations on humanitarian assistance. Whatever we're doing as the Government of Canada, when it comes to humanitarian assistance, it needs to reflect the premise of the humanitarian imperative. We need to make the decision on humanitarian need based on the dynamic situation on the ground. We need to make the decision on whatever our Canadian Forces may be engaged in entirely distinct from that.
Noon
Conservative
Laurie Hawn Conservative Edmonton Centre, AB
Do you think that...? I mean, I have the personal sense that we are doing that, based on the gratitude expressed for the amount of aid, etc., that Canada has given. Do you think that we are crossing those lines now where we shouldn't be or are we distinguishing between them?
Noon
Director of Policy, World Vision Canada
Canada in general is a humanitarian donor. Whenever Minister Paradis as well as past-minister Baird have appeared internationally, they are strong champions of the humanitarian principles. Our key concern is that you as parliamentarians look at the mission going forward and that you don't say there needs to be a military mission in place in order to deliver humanitarian assistance. There are, as Ms. Pearce and others have said, humanitarian actors in place who can deliver and negotiate access and we're able to have those two conversations separately.
Noon
Conservative
Laurie Hawn Conservative Edmonton Centre, AB
Ms. Pearce, you had some figures about how this much money can deliver this many packages of food, and so on. Can you give us some context or just an example of what the period of time is? It's nice to deliver it but how long is that sustained? Also who supplies those markets, where do the products and produce come from, and how reliable is that?
Noon
Country Director, United Nations World Food Programme
Thank you.
I think it's easier for me to talk in 12-month figures. We need over $420 million U.S. to run our operations in Iraq for the year of 2015. We have received about $200 million of that. It costs us around $26 million each month to run the assistance.
We provide three kinds of assistance. We provide family food parcels, which are 72 kilograms of food for a family of five for one month and that food comes in from Turkey. We have immediate response rations, such as the things we send in to newly displaced people and I buy those in the Kurdish market. I also provide vouchers, which put money back into the community. We do this very slowly. We're concerned about the ability of the market to sustain this. We want to make sure that we scale up quickly so that we don't disrupt the markets too much.
Noon
Liberal
The Vice-Chair Liberal Marc Garneau
Thank you, and I did take into account the rock music.
I yield the floor to Ms. Laverdière and Mr. Saganash.
Noon
NDP
Hélène Laverdière NDP Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
I was interested in the comments on the need to truly separate potential military or political actions from humanitarian aid. I think this is a key principle.
I apologize for addressing World Vision Canada again. I know that my colleague has questions for the representative of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees about the World Food Programme.
Back to my question. Can the Canadian government do anything to facilitate the access humanitarian organizations need?