Bonjour. My name is Selma Sahin, and I am a volunteer with the ONE organization.
I know you all have heard this from various volunteers around the country. I have a little apology up front that hopefully it will put a bit of a smile on your face.
I came this morning to register, per the instructions I was given, and had my wonderful statement that I had written out last night on my iPad. Guess what I forgot to bring with me when I came back this afternoon. I was furiously writing down what I could remember. It's not nearly as concise or as beautifully constructed as it was last night. I'm just going to have to free-form today with my brief notes, so I apologize up front, which is a very Canadian thing to do.
As you all know, ONE was co-founded by Bono. It's a global organization with over 8.6 million members worldwide. We advocate in particular to reduce extreme poverty globally and deadly infectious diseases around the world, especially in Africa.
I know this committee has already heard from volunteers about how poverty is sexist; hence, globally 130 million girls, four times Canada's population or greater, can't go to school, not because they don't want to but because they're not allowed to or able to.
We also know that Canada can do its part, to be part of the solution, for just two cents a day per citizen. I believe this would support the Canadian government's emphasis on women's issues worldwide, as Prime Minister Trudeau and our other ministers have spoken about.
I understand there are obviously so many valid, competing priorities for the Canadian federal budget. No question, there are things that must be done, but I also realize that we, as a country, represent compassion in doing our part to make things better around the world.
On a personal note, I'm retired from a global corporation that gives to charities and supports causes to improve lives around the world and encourages its staff to do so. That is why I have contributed for decades to United Way and other Canadian charities, and for nine years to personally sponsor a girl's education in Kenya.
As someone who is retired and living on a pension, I continue to make my contributions because I believe it's the right thing to do. I believe that by helping others we're actually helping all of us by globally improving the standards of living and increasing life expectancy. For example, in Africa, if girls could all complete high school, there would be 1.8 million lives saved per year, so it's not just a question of earning more income but that there are actually lives being saved. Of course, we all recognize that women make up approximately half the global population, so if they cannot contribute to the well-being of their communities to make the world better, that's a loss.
I do believe a tiny fraction of the Canadian budget can definitely be leveraged to support causes where a dollar overseas goes so much farther and can have such a greater impact than just what we do here.
That's it, unless there are any questions. Thank you so much for your time and attention.