Thank you.
As Canada's Minister of State for Foreign Affairs and Consular, I am pleased to join Ministers Nicholson and Paradis today to provide an update to the standing committee on the past year.
We have 179 missions abroad, 260 points of service, and more than 9,700 Canadian and locally engaged staff around the world and at headquarters. Our government stands ready to provide the best possible consular assistance to all Canadians abroad. The mission network is a vital part of our government's role in providing support to Canadians abroad requiring emergency assistance.
We are also engaged in a wide range of bilateral and multilateral relationships that can be leveraged in pursuit of international policy objectives. We've already heard from both ministers that our government is actively pursuing Canada's interests in a dynamic global environment. I'm honoured that my role as minister of state allows me to support these global priorities. I've had the honour to support Minister Fast through the promotion of our global markets action plan, and I'm working hard to help advance Canada's international trade objectives and the creation of jobs at home.
On the development side, I've had a number of opportunities to support Minister Paradis' efforts to advance global issues. These efforts are related to maternal, newborn, and child health, as well as providing education for children and youth in Afghanistan, and improving economic development among Afghan women.
As minister responsible for consular affairs, I would like to share with you some of the hard work that we are undertaking at consular affairs. First, let me highlight that Canadians are a travelling bunch. Canadians have made more than 61 million visits abroad, including over 14 million visits to countries other than the United States, and it's estimated that another 2.8 million Canadians reside outside of Canada. To respond to this demand our Prime Minister created the first ever minister for consular affairs. The creation of my role demonstrates the importance that our government places on assisting Canadians when they choose to leave our borders.
While most trips go off without a hitch, when Canadians find themselves in distress and need to reach us, Canada's team of dedicated consular officials is there to provide assistance. Our government created an emergency watch and response centre to respond to the growing number of international crises and requests for consular assistance. The centre works 24-7, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
I must stress, however, that it is first and foremost the responsibility of the traveller to make an informed travel decision. It is extremely important that before going anywhere, Canadians read up on the country they are visiting. Through travel.gc.ca we provide timely advice on everything needed to make smart travel choices. We also provide guidance on important issues that Canadians seem to forget in the excitement of their well-deserved vacation.
For example, we've been emphasizing the importance of obtaining travel health insurance before you travel. We recently launched a fact sheet full of important travel insurance tips, called “Say Yes to Travel Insurance!”, which is available in downloadable formats on the travel.gc.ca website. It is amazing how many Canadians don't think they need travel health insurance and are unpleasantly surprised when they're hit with a hefty medical bill when they become ill.
In 2014 the EWRC responded to approximately 15 major emergencies worldwide and managed over 2,500 emergency consular files. To deal with these situations our government created the standing rapid deployment team. This group of highly trained employees, who are deployed to work alongside Canada's missions abroad, help provide critical services to Canadians during emergencies. For example, in 2014 the SRDT was deployed to help respond to Kiev in February, and to Gaza for the assisted departure of Canadians in July.
The nature of international travel is changing and so too is our approach to consular services. In August of 2014 I unveiled the 21st century consular plan. That's our government's platform to modernize Canada's approach to consular services so that we can focus our attention on helping those who truly need it most, offer assistance more efficiently, and better educate Canadians on how to make smart travel decisions with the goal of reducing consular issues before they arise.
The plan has been oriented around four key initiatives. First is a focus on children. The vulnerable children’s consular unit was created in the fall of 2013 to bring together policy and case management expertise. The unit improves our ability to respond to consular issues involving Canadian children. Through the creation of this unit, Canada is taking a leading role in finding new ways to assist in cases of international children abduction, including abduction prevention, as well as taking a leading role on emerging issues such as child, early, and forced marriage.
Our second initiative is targeted outreach. Many Canadians are unprepared for the realities of international travel and may have an unrealistic expectation of the services our government offers abroad. Innovative partnerships and technologies are being leveraged on an ongoing basis to reach out to Canadians, along with more traditional public awareness campaigns, such as the one on the need to purchase travel health insurance.
Our third initiative is going digital. This initiative will improve online resources for a routine service request so that Canadians can better rely on current technology. As well, we are enhancing the Travel Smart app so that travellers can readily access essential information on the go.
The last key initiative is strengthening our response network. With Canadians travelling to more remote areas, having the right people in the right places will allow citizens to get help when they need it. We are doing this by implementing regional delivery models, enhancing Canada's standing rapid deployment team response capability, and building on partnerships with other foreign offices. We want to empower travelling Canadians to help themselves in order to reduce the number of routine demands on missions. This will allow us to focus resources on complex consular cases.
Dear colleagues, allow me to remind you as always that the Privacy Act limits how much information we can give publicly on any individual case.
Thank you.
Merci.