Thank you, Chair.
Mr. Chair, I'm pleased to provide to you today information about Canada's humanitarian and development assistance programs in Sri Lanka. Let me begin with humanitarian assistance provided by CIDA in addressing the plight of the people most affected by the recent conflict.
Humanitarian support has been significant this year. In February 2009, Minister Oda announced a total of $4.5 million for Canadian humanitarian assistance for conflict-affected people in Sri Lanka. This included $1.75 million for the International Committee of the Red Cross, $750,000 to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, and $500,000 each to Oxfam Canada, World Vision, CARE, and Médecins Sans Frontières. An additional $350,000 of CIDA-funded projects with Médicins Sans Frontières is also operational in the north. Combined, these funds are contributing to the efforts of trusted humanitarian partners to assist up to 250,000 people displaced by the conflict with much needed medical care, emergency shelter, protection, clean water, and sanitation services.
Between October 2008 and January 2009, Canadian funding for the World Food Programme operations has, among other things, helped send 11 convoys into the Vanni region and distribute 10,619 metric tonnes of food assistance via land and sea. In order to monitor the progress of our funded humanitarian partners and to get first-hand understanding of the situation, a CIDA team is now on the ground in Vavuniya, in the north.
Let me now turn to CIDA's longer-term bilateral assistance to Sri Lanka. Canada and Sri Lanka have a long-standing development relationship since the 1950s and since the launch of the Colombo Plan, with a total to date of over $800 million in Canadian assistance. Over the past 15 years, CIDA's bilateral assistance has helped to address the root causes of the conflict and to mitigate the impact on affected communities. Annual funding levels have been $5 million to $6 million. Recently, the focus of the program has been to support economic well-being. The majority of CIDA's projects support productive activities to improve the livelihoods of Sri Lankan youth, women, and vulnerable groups. Other projects aim at reintegrating conflict-affected groups into economic life. Canada has also been active in the area of governance, concentrating on human rights, specifically child rights and language rights.
CIDA's explicit approach is to work through Canadian NGOs and civil society organizations and to maintain a geographic and ethnic balance by supporting projects in the Sinhalese, Tamil, and Muslim areas of the country. In addition to the bilateral program, CIDA has been providing around $3 million annually to Canadian organizations working in Sri Lanka. Their programming with local Sri Lankan partners focuses largely on technical training and economic growth for poverty reduction. Finally, during the past five years, CIDA provided additional assistance of $118.7 million in response to the December 2004 tsunami to fund relief and reconstruction activities.
Mr. Chairman, we'd be happy to answer the committee's questions on Sri Lanka.
Thank you.