Foreign Affairs Committee on May 13th, 2009

[The Chair, Conservative, Kevin Sorenson]

Good afternoon colleagues.

This is meeting 19 of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development. It is Wednesday, May 13, 2009.

Today we're going to continue our study on key elements of Canada's foreign policy. We have finished our report on Sri Lanka. My intention is that it will be tabled in the House tomorrow.

Today we're going to begin part of what we decided earlier to study. We will begin our hearings on the Great Lakes region of Africa. From the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, we have Ken Sunquist. We welcome him back. It's good to have him here again. He is the assistant deputy minister for Asia and Africa and chief trade commissioner. We also have Isabelle Roy, director of the west and central Africa division. From the Canadian International Development Agency, we have Allan Culham, acting vice-president for pan-geographics, and André Gosselin, regional director, central Africa and Great Lakes, Africa branch.

We welcome you here today, and we look forward to your opening comments. You have been here many times, so you know that we then move into the first round of questions. We look forward to what you have to say.

Go ahead, Mr. Sunquist, please.

[Ken Sunquist, Assistant Deputy Minister, (Asia and Africa) and Chief Trade Commissioner, Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade]

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Good afternoon everyone.

Mr. Chair, members, you have chosen a very important topic for the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade. It's key to how we view Africa. The African Great Lakes region is suffering from a long-standing chain of humanitarian crises, including the present one in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The government shares your concerns and looks forward to your report on this issue. Peace, stability, and development in the Great Lakes region, and indeed in central Africa, will not be achieved unless there is peace, stability, and development in the DRC. The two are tied.

Let me talk a moment about individual countries and some of the issues there. Then we'll pull it together in a region. The humanitarian situation in the eastern DRC is the longest-lasting and most severe in the world. Two successive regional wars and an ongoing conflict have claimed close to five million lives. Close to 1.4 million people are currently internally displaced. Nevertheless, strides have been made on the road to peace and reconciliation in the past years, despite the recent outbreaks of violence in the eastern part of the country.

Only a regional solution will bring about long-term stability to the Democratic Republic of Congo and the region. As co-chair of the Group of Friends of the Great Lakes Region, Canada was intimately involved in the establishment of the International Conference of the Great Lakes Region. The conference brought together 11 regional leaders for meaningful dialogue that gave birth to the Pact on Security, Stability and Development, the first peace treaty in the region.

Canada, mainly through CIDA, contributed approximately $1.5 million--as well as a DFAIT team, led by our then special envoy--to the success. In this context, Canada co-funded, with the Netherlands, the November 2008 Nairobi summit, which led to the present demobilization and reintegration of CNDP, the rebel group responsible for the humanitarian crisis, in the fall of 2008.

Sexual gender-based violence has reached epidemic proportions in the eastern DRC. Canada has been contributing about $15 million since 2006 to support a multilateral effort to help victims of this crime. This initiative helps tens of thousands of victims of sexual violence through medical care, psychological support, access to civil justice, and socio-economic reintegration. We have made the fight against sexual violence a priority, and underline this at every opportunity, including at the UN Declaration of Human Rights' 60th anniversary...which took place at the Department of Foreign Affairs.

On December 10, 2008, we chose to bring to the forefront the extent to which sexual violence is used as a weapon of war by screening the film The Greatest Silence, a moving documentary that bears witness to this tragedy.

Since April 2006, Canada, through CIDA, has provided over $80 million for both humanitarian and long-term development assistance in the DRC. This includes $15 million for the support of the 2006 elections, the largest UN-organized election in the world, and the first democratic multi-party election in the DRC since 1960.

Current development support focuses on democratic and economic governance and basic health, with gender equality as a substantial cross-cutting element of all programming. To date, in 2009, CIDA has provided $14.6 million of humanitarian assistance, which is non-food, and $7 million in food aid to the DRC alone. In the past 10 years, through UN peacekeeping, Canada has contributed $235 million to MONUC, the largest UN peacekeeping mission ever.

DND's contribution to MONUC supports professionalization of the Congolese army, disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration initiatives, as well as justice reform. In looking for the future in sustainable development, we need to find how we can assist the country and the region. In an extremely challenging business and governance environment, Canada's trade commissioner service strives to improve the business environment and promote an integrated approach to corporate social responsibility as it relates to mining, natural resources, and energy. These are vital sectors for the DRC.

As of December 31, 2008, the Canadian cumulative mining assets in the DRC were valued at over $5.7 billion. We continue our regular dialogue with both the Canadian NGO community and the Congolese diaspora throughout Canada to ensure that our efforts are inclusive of their views.

Turning now to Rwanda, after the genocide in Rwanda, Canada identified the importance of women working together to improve their lives. To this effect, among other projects in this vein, through CIDA, Canada has provided about $1.5 million in support of civil society organization to promote women's strategic interests such as rights related to inheritance or violence, and political participation. We also provided assistance to help women build and repair thousands of homes in support of Rwanda's reconciliation and reconstruction program.

Our lead in this sector was followed by others. Women in Rwanda have assumed a greater role in society. Rwanda women continue to make inroads in the country's highest seats of power. They hold half of the seats in the cabinet and 56% of the seats in Parliament, representing the highest percentage of women lawmakers in the world.

In 2007-08, total CIDA disbursements in Rwanda amounted to $18.4 million, including $7.5 million through bilateral disbursements. As Rwanda is an agricultural-based society, CIDA's bilateral programming focus is on integrated rural development through private sector development, rural infrastructure initiatives, and local democratic governance. It helps strengthen the capacity of decentralized local authorities and rural associations to plan and manage development programs.

In Burundi, Canada was directly involved in the lengthy peace process ultimately leading up to the signing of the 2000 peace accord. Since then, national reconciliation and peace negotiations have led to greater stability. This has brought security sector improvements and progress in social reforms such as free maternal health care. In 2007-08, CIDA's assistance to Burundi totalled $6.3 million. From 2004 to 2006, Ms. Carolyn McAskie, a Canadian, served as a senior UN envoy and head of the successful UN peacekeeping operations in Burundi.

Since 2008 Canada has supported the efforts of the UN Peacebuilding Commission, a body created to manage war-to-peace transition in fragile states. Canada has contributed $20 million to the related UN peacebuilding fund, which provides supports for post-conflict capacity-building projects in Burundi and other states in the region.

On Uganda, Canada's engagement aims to assist the government and people of Uganda to lay the foundations for lasting peace in the region and in the country. Canada was among the principal international supporters, and contributed $8 million to the northern Uganda peace process. Although the LRA leadership declined to sign the final peace agreement, the negotiations have brought relative peace to northern Uganda, allowing hundreds of thousands of internally displaced persons to return home. Canada also provided technical assistance to the government of Uganda to support their efforts to implement the agreement on accountability and reconciliation. To date in 2009, Canada through CIDA has contributed $4.5 million to humanitarian assistance to Uganda.

Turning more broadly to the region, Canada also supports the Great Lakes region through regional programs supported by CIDA. One such program provided $4.8 million to strengthen institutional technical capacities of training institutions in three central African countries, especially the DRC, so that they can become centres of excellence for the whole region in sustainable management of natural resources. As well, $25 million has gone to the multi-country demobilization and reintegration program, which supports the demobilization and reintegration of ex-combatants in the Great Lakes region. It is the largest program of its kind in the world, and currently targets over 400,000 ex-combatants in seven countries, including Burundi, DRC, Rwanda, and Uganda.

Canada's diplomatic regional efforts continue to promote respect for international and humanitarian law with a view to protecting civilians and facilitating humanitarian access to those in need. We continue to work for peace and stability in the region through national and regional peace processes and peacebuilding initiatives.

Mr. Chairman, I'd like to add that our team on the ground at our embassy in Kinshasa and the high commission in Nairobi have close relations with partners in the Great Lakes region, including the NGOs, the international community, and the member states of the region.

Our personnel in Ottawa, both at DFAIT and CIDA, travel regularly to the Great Lakes region to meet with partners and obtain first-hand knowledge and awareness of the situation there. As you know, parliamentary secretary Obhrai visited the DRC, Rwanda, Burundi, and Kenya to obtain on-the-ground perspective of possible areas of Canadian involvement in the Great Lakes region. He represented our minister at the summit when the Pact on Security, Stability and Development was signed.

Mr. Chairman, we'd be happy to answer the committee's questions on the Great Lakes region of Africa. As you have already indicated, we have a combined delegation here from CIDA and from Foreign Affairs and International Trade.

With that, I turn it back to you. Thank you very much for this opportunity to outline a few of the issues that we're covering in the region.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kevin Sorenson]

Thank you very much.

Mr. Patry.

[Bernard Patry, Liberal, Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.

Mr. Sunquist, I want to thank you and your team for coming here today.

I am going to talk about the Congo, the DRC. You said that the humanitarian crisis in eastern DRC is the longest standing and most serious in the world. MONUC has indeed been involved there for a very long time and has cost the United Nations a fortune. You said that only a regional solution will bring about long-term stability to the DRC and the region, and that Canada co-chaired the Group of Friends in the region as well as the setting up of an international conference in the Great Lakes region.

My question is very simple: What has happened since that International Conference on the Great Lakes? The way I see the situation currently unfolding in the DRC is that last February, Ms. Oda, our Minister responsible for CIDA... The four countries in the Great Lakes region, Rwanda, Uganda, Burundi and the DRC, are no longer Canada's partners.

Is Canada dissociating itself from what is currently happening in the DRC? What does Canada intend to do? Canada should be playing a very important diplomatic role. We are not doing enough for the francophonie. Yet the DRC is part of that. I would like a little more information on that issue.

The international conferences yielded results, and things are going well. The situation has improved somewhat in Rwanda and the DRC. However, we cannot talk about peace. But since Rwanda is the country that exports the largest amount of coltan in the world without having a single coltan mine, we are entitled to ask a number of questions.

What is Canada doing at present? I don't want to know what Canada has donated in recent years nor whether Canada participated in MONUC. However, from a diplomatic perspective, what is Canada currently doing?

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kevin Sorenson]

Thank you, Mr. Patry.

Mr. Sunquist.

[Ken Sunquist]

That is a twofold question.

First of all, I think you asked the right question, which is that you work to get to a point in time, but then what do you do to follow up afterwards to make sure that it works?

I think there are a couple of answers I would give to that.

One is that not only do we support through resources of people and dollars; we also support the people and the leaders of the region in tackling the problems together. Indeed, for the first time you're starting to see joint military action; you're seeing the establishment of embassies there. So you're starting to see the actual countries working together. It doesn't happen overnight.

The second part is that, as I mentioned in my opening presentation, Canada, with the Netherlands, co-funded the Nairobi summit, which was the follow-up, and which led to a political process by the UN, as well as other regional leaders. There have been revised accords that have been signed and followed up, and the present disarmament exercise is part of that process.

So there are discrete functions where we're getting people together...if you want to call it diplomatically, I'd call it a little bit more politically. We have different disarmament groups working.

Perhaps I could ask my colleague Mr. Culham to comment on the second part, on CIDA.

[Allan Culham, Acting Vice-President, Pan-Geographics, Canadian International Development Agency]

Thank you very much, sir.

You mentioned the very important role that Canada played in the past, but I must confirm that Canada continues to participate in events in that part of the world.

CIDA has a long and rich history in the Great Lakes region. This includes not only the four countries that we're talking about, but also Tanzania, which is part of this area of the world. As you mentioned, the conflict is much larger than these three countries. It encompasses that whole region--Uganda, Sudan, Tanzania, and the whole region.

Minister Oda did announce, three or four weeks ago now, that CIDA would be concentrating its aid in a number of key development partners. But what's been lost in that message is that we are not going to be abandoning these countries for bilateral assistance. While they're not going to be a country of concentration, we will continue to have bilateral programs in that part of the world well into future, in much the same themes that were mentioned by Mr. Sunquist. For example, this year, on the bilateral side, we're scheduled to spend up to $14 million in the Congo and $7 million in Rwanda, and we look to continue into the future at more or less these exact same levels.

The other message that has been lost is that it's not just the bilateral channel that we'll continue, but it will be the multilateral and the partnership branch. So we will continue programming with our Canadian civil society groups that are active in that region. We will continue to funnel assistance through the multilateral organizations, whether it be the United Nations or the international financial institutions that are active in that part of the world. So the totality of Canadian involvement in that region will continue to be quite significant for the foreseeable future.

[Ken Sunquist]

Mr. Chair, could we make one very quick intervention?

Isabelle.

[Isabelle Roy, Director, West and Central Africa Division, Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade]

Thank you, sir.

I would simply like to answer your question about what Canada has done since the second summit of the International Conference on the Great Lakes which was held in 2006.

To answer your question, in November 2008, as Mr. Sunquist pointed out, Canada and The Netherlands co-funded the November Nairobi summit which made it possible to bring together all of the protagonists and to come up with a political process, at a time when the crisis was at its worst in eastern Congo.

As you know, that process was led by former president Obasanjo and the former president of Tanzania, and led, later, to all kinds of meetings—as you also know—with the CNDP. That also made it possible to arrest the current leader of the CNDP, a decision that Rwanda and the Congo made alone, since our common objective is for countries in the region to make decisions on their own. So, that was one of the contributions, which was perhaps not well known enough but which is attributable to the international process for the Great Lakes region.

I would like to add two other points on human rights, because significant action was taken on human rights, in particular women's rights and the issue of sexual violence. During the special session of the Human Rights Council held in Geneva last November and December, Canada insisted that the issue be put on the agenda and be made a resolution, which was the case.

A few months earlier, in the summer of 2008, Canada was one of the co-sponsors of UN resolution 1820, which for the first time recognized the close link between sexual crimes and problems with peace and security.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kevin Sorenson]

Thank you, Ms. Roy.

Before we move to Ms. Deschamps, I'd like to welcome back Madame Lalonde.

I can tell you that we certainly did miss you while you were gone. It's very good to have you here.

Madame Deschamps.

[Johanne Deschamps, Bloc, Laurentides—Labelle, QC]

Thank you.

Since Madam Lalonde has been away for so long, if I may, I will be sharing my time with her.

I just have one quick question for Mr. Sunquist.

In your remarks, you referred to the mining companies that are in the Democratic Republic of Congo. You say that Canada's trade commissioners are striving to improve the business environment and to promote an integrated approach.

In 2007, a workshop was held in the Democratic Republic of Congo to discuss mining companies' social responsibility. As a result of this workshop, the Canadian embassy made a commitment to sponsor workshops on ways of implementing the recommendations contained in the report of the advisory group to the National Roundtables on Corporate Social Responsibility and the Canadian Extractive Industry in Developing Countries.

I would like to know if, following that workshop, the embassy put in place measures to respond to the roundtable recommendations.

[Ken Sunquist]

Thank you for your questions.

If I'm not mistaken, 22 Canadian companies are working in that region.

Our head of mission, our ambassador, has met individually with every company. Our senior trade commissioner has met with these companies to follow up on what corporate social responsibility means and how Canadian companies should best address those issues. We continue to do this in face-to-face meetings with the companies. We continue to do it with the host government to ensure that we're talking about the same kind of standards. At every level, whether company-to-company or with the government, we believe in corporate social responsibility. We want our Canadian companies to represent Canada in the best manner possible.

I think you're aware that the government just announced a new corporate social responsibility policy as a result of the national round table; in fact we've enlisted the assistance of many companies to look at the transparency issues and the human rights issues. We're working with these companies on this issue.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kevin Sorenson]

Madame Lalonde.

[Francine Lalonde, Bloc, La Pointe-de-l'Île, QC]

Thank you very much for your warm welcome; I thought of you often.

You said that Minister Oda's decision to no longer treat a number of African countries as favoured bilateral partners would not really have any consequences, because you are going to continue to help them. I have worked with documents prepared by the Canadian Council on Africa, and I read that Rwanda was one of the countries that, in 2008, had received the most funding. It says $291 million here. Does that mean that from one day to the next the country can no longer count on this funding? When you say you're going to continue to help the others, at what level will that be?

I am starting with that question, because the one that concerns me the most is governance, which we talk about all the time. How are we going to help these countries—and I say help them not replace them—develop their economies? I am not talking about assistance in the form of tents, etc., but helping them to develop.

I will conclude on this: The Senate report outlines a terrible finding: development in Africa is a failure. I don't share their approach, but I would like to hear your views on that. What is important is for Canada to contribute to development in Africa. You have worked with the Netherlands, which have a good reputation. Bravo! But is each country going to independently propose approaches, or other pieces of legislation? What are we doing to help Africa develop itself?

[The Chair, Conservative, Kevin Sorenson]

Thank you, Madam Lalonde.

[Allan Culham]

Thank you very much for your question.

You mentioned that Minister Oda had chosen six African countries as countries where development aid will be concentrated, but as I mentioned, we will continue to be involved.

We will continue to be involved in the development of all of Africa. The six countries listed as countries of concentration are Tanzania, Mozambique, and Ethiopia in east Africa, and, in west Africa, Mali, Senegal, and Ghana. As a fragile state, Sudan also is going to be part of our concentration.

I'd like to reiterate that our concentrating on those seven countries does not mean we are going to be terminating our bilateral programs in the countries where we have traditionally been involved, such as the DRC, Rwanda, and Burundi. In fact, we will continue to have programs at the bilateral level in those countries and in others that are also in Africa. As I mentioned, we will also continue to channel our aid through partnership programs and the regional programs and multilateral institutions.

I'll ask my colleague André Gosselin to give you an idea of what we're going to be doing in the future in exactly these countries that we're discussing today.

[André Gosselin, Regional Director, Central Africa and Great Lakes, Africa Branch, Canadian International Development Agency]

Thank you very much for your question, which is a fundamental one. How can we aid or at least support countries like Rwanda or the DRC? Our efforts as well as those of other donors are guided by what we call aid effectiveness principles. We want to ensure that aid is as effective as possible. The first principle is to adjust or align ourselves in accordance with the country's priorities.

In the case of Rwanda, our current programming flows directly from discussions we held with the Rwandan government. During these discussions, the Rwandan government called for Canadian cooperation to attach specific importance to rural development. As you are undoubtedly aware, the vast majority of Rwandans live in rural areas. The people are very poor, and agriculture is subsistence farming, where productivity and agricultural production need to be improved. So that is the first area where we can support the government's efforts, by aligning ourselves with their priorities, and supporting agricultural development, agriculture, means meeting their immediate needs but also preparing for the mid and long term.

The second area of involvement for bilateral programming, again in the case of Rwanda, is local governance. The Rwandan government has asked us to work in this area because Rwanda is currently putting in motion a decentralization policy. Along with other donors, we have chosen to participate in implementing this policy. Essentially, here's what we are trying to do. With decentralization, local authorities will receive responsibilities and certain revenues, but these authorities are not necessarily equipped to take on this role and these responsibilities. Basically, what we are trying to do is to support these authorities as well as groups of local people, and civil society organizations, so that they can work together to prepare their development plan based on their local priorities. That gives you an example of our approach.

In the case of Congo, the two areas we are involved in are governance and health.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kevin Sorenson]

Thank you, Mr. Gosselin.

We'll go to Mr. Obhrai.

[Deepak Obhrai, Conservative, Calgary East, AB]

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

I would like to welcome the team back here to again brief us on the issues. Thank you, Ken and the team.

To Madame Lalonde, welcome back. I must say, it's good to have you back.

Thank you, Ken. As you mentioned, I was in the region, and we did an extensive thing; you mentioned the summit.

I want to tell colleagues about the extensive engagement Canada has been undertaking in that region, working on many facets. My colleague here will talk about CIDA's involvement, but I was there with John Gauthier, who is sitting in the back of the room, who was also heavily involved. We are heavily involved—as we said, we were co-chairs—with the Netherlands in working with the Great Lakes region.

The challenges of the Great Lakes region are not limited to development. There is also the conflict that has been going on for such a long time, and that conflict has resulted in this humanitarian crisis. Paul Dewar was recently involved in discussions on the issue of sexual violence, which is so prevalent in that region. It is all coming out of this instability in the Great Lakes region, where there is a lot of fighting. This pact that was signed in Nairobi was one of the first steps we took leading to ensure that there would be peace and that with peace there would be more development and engagement taking place.

One result was the establishment of a secretariat in Bujumbura, with a Tanzanian as secretary to oversee this pact and oversee the development.

I would like you to tell us what the secretariat has been doing, and speak about how calm the region presently is, allowing CIDA and the NGOs to move in to do development and to work towards a reduction in the very high level of sexual violence, an issue of great concern to Canadians.

I know that the two countries have worked together, Rwanda and the Congo, to bring peace to the region, but let's talk about the long term: the secretariat in Bujumbura, and whether the Africans are actually picking up this ball by themselves and running with it, because that was the whole idea.

Please go ahead.

[Ken Sunquist]

I think Isabelle could answer that better than I.

[Isabelle Roy]

If you'll allow me, Mr. Obhrai, I'll answer in French.

Thank you.

That is precisely the point that was emphasized through the international process on the Great Lakes region. It is the issue of ownership; in other words, the countries themselves sat around the table. Bringing these 11 countries to the table—nine of which ratified, in 2006, the pact Mr. Obhrai mentioned—so that they could resume the dialogue was in itself a challenge. As you know, the Congo was recovering from two successive wars during which, for some time, more than seven foreign armies from neighbouring countries battled it out on their territory.

What is unique and important about this pact that was ratified by nine of these neighbouring countries is that it deals with all aspects of economic, social and political life affecting these countries. It is not simply a pact dealing with peace and security, but also one dealing, for example, with basic trade relations among these neighbouring countries.

If I may, I will draw a link with Ms. Lalonde's question. Trade relations among these countries is an essential aspect they have asked for our help with. This week, a trade mission will be traveling to the five countries of East Africa, including Rwanda and Burundi, since these two countries belong both to Central Africa and East Africa. This is a trade mission that they wanted, and on which they have worked a great deal for many months, and it is chaired by the Rwandan minister. There are five ministers from these five countries: Rwanda, Burundi, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. Private sector development is precisely one of the issues covered by the pact on security, stability and development in the Great Lakes region.

So to reiterate, that is what is unique about the pact, because it deals with all aspects of reconstruction and not simply with overcoming conflict, as was so necessary a few years ago.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kevin Sorenson]

Thank you, Ms. Roy.

Monsieur Culham, very quickly.

[Allan Culham]

Thank you very much.

Very quickly, in the opening remarks provided by Mr. Sunquist, you saw the response to the humanitarian crisis, the peace process, and the need for reconciliation running through it. Those were the three themes that CIDA tried to support, as part of our contribution to the larger regional peace process.

But we're finding things are changing a little bit as stability has started to take hold. Our programs are now shifting towards rural development, private sector development, health, and education--the more traditional areas of support--as people and governments in that part of the region begin to take more responsibility for their lives following the peace process.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kevin Sorenson]

Thank you, Mr. Culham.

Mr. Dewar.

[Paul Dewar, NDP, Ottawa Centre, ON]

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you to our guests for being here.

The press release I sent out asked if Canada was going to answer the call of the Congo. I'm glad to hear that we have part of the message answered, and maybe we can probe a bit more.

One of the things I was taken by when I was in the DRC is that it has been noted that the DRC has the paradox of the plenty. It is an extraordinarily rich country. It is extraordinarily diverse in terms of the natural resources there, but it is absolutely devastating to see the effects of the wealth on the population.

My questions have to do with what we can continue to do, because we have done some good work. I have to acknowledge the embassy there and the officials I met with. They are doing good work on the ground.

I would like to know, first of all, if we're seeing the $15 million that was committed particularly to deal with gender violence running out. Are we looking at continuing that funding for that important initiative? As everyone knows, the gender violence hasn't ended. In some cases it's become worse, or it looks different or is in different places. I just want to know, in that particular case, if we are continuing the funding of that project, which I think was due to end this year.

You can always get back to me later on that.