Finance committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. I am Conrad Sauvé, the CEO of the Canadian Red Cross. I'm going to talk to you today about emergency response in Canada. I will speak in English, but it would be my pleasure to answer your questions in French, as well. As just a reminder, when we talk abo

Foreign Affairs committee  I'll let Hossam get into the details, but, first of all, they're not two separate organizations. The Red Cross and Red Crescents are all the same organizations that are all part of the federation, they are not separate organizations in that sense. There are 189 national societies

Foreign Affairs committee  Yes indeed. Jessie made the same remark. We have to look at long-term planning, and support capacity. The local organizations of the Red Crescent have to meet emergencies, but this emergency situation may last. We have to support them so that they can maintain this sustained effo

Foreign Affairs committee  I think that for the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement it's the same point I made a little earlier. We're relying on strong institutions. The Syrian Arab Red Crescent, notwithstanding the fact that 34 of its members were killed, is recruiting hundreds of volunteer

Foreign Affairs committee  With your permission, I am going to ask my colleague Hossam Elsharkawi to reply to your question. Hossam worked for a long time in the Middle East during several conflicts.

Foreign Affairs committee  Thank you for your question. You are correct in saying that this situation is extremely difficult. As I said in my presentation, the needs are great and there are additional ones. Concretely, the Syrian Red Crescent has asked us for $23 million to feed some 50,000 families. That

Foreign Affairs committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you to all of the committee members for inviting me here today. As you have introduced my colleagues, I will go straight to my presentation. I think it is quite timely that this committee is meeting to talk about Syria today given that, as you know,

Foreign Affairs committee  We're not working specifically on the food security. We're working on the health issues and the....

Foreign Affairs committee  Right. Our work is on the emergency relief side, the recovery side, and we're putting a lot of emphasis on the health side.

Foreign Affairs committee  Yes, absolutely, but we're one of the partners. We're not taking care of all aspects.

Foreign Affairs committee  I'm sorry?

Foreign Affairs committee  Thank you. Actually, in your second question you touched a little bit on the first one with deforestation. The issue is that these homes, actually...and two-thirds of them are already built. It costs about $5,000 a unit, absolutely. These are wind-resistant to about 240 kilomet

Foreign Affairs committee  Yes. We put out a tender in Canada to find a supplier. And we have to bring the materials there because there are no existing materials in Haiti. That is part of the problem, and I think you've raised it. I think one of the presentations talked about how we get away from patchwo

Foreign Affairs committee  Yes. Leogane and Jacmel are peri-urban areas. We're managing to move fast there. The challenge is more in an urban area like Port-au-Prince, where there is debris. Where there is already built infrastructures it is much more complex. We can get into that, but it's a complex ques

Foreign Affairs committee  Thank you. I think you're absolutely right in terms of the concern about violence and abuse prevention. The Canadian Red Cross is one of the leaders, actually, in the world of the Red Cross in terms of training and education around violence and abuse prevention. It's part and pa