Evidence of meeting #40 for Finance in the 42nd Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was alberta.
October 4th, 2016 / 12:30 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Wayne Easter
Thank you very much, Mr. Johnson.
Ms. Lakhani, you have about three minutes. The floor is yours.
Aliya Lakhani As an Individual
Thank you. Thank you for this opportunity to address the committee today.
My name is Aliya Lakhani and I'm a volunteer with Engineers Without Borders Canada. I've worked in the agricultural sector in Ghana and the water sanitation and hygiene sector in Tanzania as a result.
Engineers Without Borders is an NGO that invests in people and ventures to create a thriving and sustainable world. With 2,500 active members in 40 chapters across Canada, we're well positioned to provide mentorship, talent, and seed funding to social enterprises in Sub-Saharan Africa.
I'm speaking to you today because the Government of Canada has committed to restoring and renewing international assistance to refocus on the poorest and most vulnerable. While this announcement brings me hope, I need to point out that Canada is lagging behind its G7 counterparts in our official development assistance, which is impairing our ability to implement the 2030 agenda for sustainable development.
As a young Canadian, my hope for Canada is that we are seen by other countries as the benchmark for international assistance, that we set the global standard for impactful sustainable development, and that our international assistance aligns with Canadian values such as equity, diversity, and compassion.
For this reason, I ask that in budget 2017 Canada commit to annual increases of 10% to the international assistance envelope with a publicly available timeline to doubling the envelope by 2023. This is to ensure that Canada can deliver on the implementation of the 2030 sustainable development agenda.
Making a strong ODA commitment aligns with the ministerial mandate and is a decisive step towards early progress on the SDGs. It also demonstrates Canadian leadership on the world stage.
Thank you.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Wayne Easter
Thank you very much.
That's it, I believe, for the open-mike session.
We will suspend. If anybody wants to speak to the two people, you've got about three or four minutes to do it, then we're going to clear the room and go in camera.
[Proceedings continue in camera]