A number of you have a lot of political experience, enough to know that the headlines do not always reflect the content of a meeting. Your considerable experience in international development means that you know what Canada has always done in terms of international assistance, and we have not changed the policy in that regard.
We are working with major organizations with a lot of experience. We act with all due diligence before making funds available to them. Our various teams monitor projects in the field and we validate the results when they are over.
Getting emergency international assistance to communities and villages under siege in Syria, for example, is no simple matter. The major international organizations are doing everything possible to reach civilians in the besieged villages. There is no intention to provide food aid to terrorist groups in any way.
Major humanitarian principles come into play. That is what I was trying to explain to the reporter, the importance of neutrality, impartiality and humanity. It is still difficult to explain that clearly, but I would say that is very important for all the parties in a conflict to recognize the neutrality of those major humanitarian organizations, so that they can reach the civilians in order to feed and care for them safely and to avoid situations that are happening too often at the moment, when hospitals or schools are targeted.
That is what I was trying to explain. For the humanitarian organizations, it is extremely difficult to get to the villages. Clearly, all the efforts and resources put at the disposal of those organizations are in order to reach civilians and the besieged villages.