National Defence committee  Briefly, from the field perspective, in 2005 the United Nations undertook an important reform process. Essentially, it created the cluster system, which is made up of sectors. You might have a water and sanitation cluster, for instance. They set up these clusters for each and eve

National Defence committee  Thank you for your question. As you know, Canada has a long history of support for the Philippine government, even prior to the crisis. We plan to continue to provide support for the government and the population of the Philippines. DART was one of the key elements of the Gover

National Defence committee  We have allocated $20 million to the three organizations I mentioned. In addition, we have deployed our reserve of relief supplies.

Foreign Affairs committee  Thank you for having invited me today to present the most recent information on the humanitarian crisis in Syria and on the measures that Canada has taken in this matter. As you know, the committee's last briefing on the humanitarian situation in Syria was held on December 5. At

Foreign Affairs committee  Okay. I'm trying to make it within my five minutes. There is a lot to tell you about.

Foreign Affairs committee  Indeed, millions of Syrian residents are struggling to meet their basic needs, while millions of Syrians are trying to find refuge in neighbouring countries. The vulnerability of these populations is increasing more and more quickly, and their limited resources are diminishing ra

Foreign Affairs committee  As I had mentioned, there are I think 2.4 million registered refugees. There are a fair number who are not registered who are also living in these countries. There are various reasons why they haven't registered. The estimations are that there are roughly three million people liv

Foreign Affairs committee  They are living with families and wherever they can find places to stay. In Jordan, a fair number are in camps, but a fair number are also living with the hosting communities. I think you're accurate in suggesting this has a potential destabilizing impact on these countries, part

Foreign Affairs committee  If I may, I'll very briefly add a couple of points. There are a couple of other besieged areas that are the priority of the UN right now, especially the emergency relief coordinator. She will be going to the Security Council on February 12 and presenting, and trying to look at

Foreign Affairs committee  Should I mention the high-level group...

Foreign Affairs committee  There is another parallel process under way. I would characterize it as diplomatic. Coming out of the October 2 presidential statement at the UN Security Council, the emergency relief coordinator, Valerie Amos, with Australia and Luxembourg, set up essentially what is called the

Foreign Affairs committee  Luxembourg and Australia are, with OCHA and the emergency relief coordinator.

Foreign Affairs committee  I am happy to report it was in Kuwait One. We called the meeting on January 15 Kuwait Two, the second humanitarian pledging conference. In Kuwait One, about $1.54 billion was pledged of which $1.126 billion was received, 73% was received. The numbers are much higher than at first

Foreign Affairs committee  It has been very recognized by all of the actors in the region, and so that's why UNICEF, UNHCR, and some other NGO partners have come together to have this No Lost Generation campaign. It's a strategy they're going to implement throughout the region, and it's really targeting vu

Foreign Affairs committee  I would say that it's gone quite well, and I say this because they've managed to have quite widespread coverage. They had targeted 22 million children in the region and in the first round they managed to vaccinate 24 million children in the region, of whom 2.4 million are in Syri