Foreign Affairs Committee on Dec. 3rd, 2020

[Stéphane Bergeron, Bloc, Montarville, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

My thanks to our witnesses. I am sorry for the confusion caused by our parliamentary work.

I am going to start with a question that comes out of left field. One of the issues that has concerned the members of this committee involves the Canadian children trapped in camps in Syria. Some of you have talked about the tragic situation in Syria because of the conflict. I like to think that, if we managed to get the Canadian children out, it would mean slightly fewer children in such dreadful conditions.

The Canadian government claims that the lack of a mission and representation in that location is preventing us from becoming involved. However, other Western states have managed to get their children out of Syria while facing exactly the same constraints.

The Government of Canada has managed to get one child out of Syria. It could certainly do the same for others. We have introduced the idea that Canada could use nongovernmental organizations located there.

In your opinion, is that feasible?

[Rachel Logel Carmichael]

Would you like me to start with that question?

[Stéphane Bergeron, Bloc, Montarville, QC]

It's up to you.

[Rachel Logel Carmichael]

Dr. Al-Kassem, you've spoken about Syria. Perhaps you'd like to take the opportunity to start. I'm happy to speak to repatriation.

[Dr. Anas Al-Kassem]

Yes. Thank you, Ms. Logel Carmichael.

I certainly agree and want to re-emphasize that we can rely on the local communities and local humanitarian organizations, particularly when there are no government activities. I gave the example of northern Syria. Not only does the government not exist; the government led the destruction of northern Syria's infrastructure, including the education, the schools and hospitals. The Canadian government has to find partners that it trusts in the local communities and the local humanitarian groups in order to deliver the care and supplies to the areas of need.

[Rachel Logel Carmichael]

I'm happy to speak to this issue of repatriation as well.

As Dr. Al-Kassem had said, there's a very concerning situation of COVID-19 cases within Syria. In particular, in northeast Syria we're seeing really concerning numbers on how the war and these cases are impacting Syrian children, as well as the 25 children who are residing in northeast Syria as well.

With this large group of children who are there, we were very happy to see the Canadian government take steps to bring back the Canadian child trapped in northeast Syria. We're proud as Save the Children to have cared for that child in the camp for approximately 10 months and to support the Canadian government to bring that child home.

However, this is a role of governments. Governments need to ensure the care of their citizens and ensure that they are able to facilitate the process. NGOs and local organizations cannot move children across borders, or they veer into the space of trafficking. It's very important that the many stakeholders that can be involved with this, including organizations that are taking care of these children, are involved. It's important that the Canadian government develop steps and processes, as they have for the child that was repatriated last month, to ensure that it is bringing its citizens home.

These children have lived through horrific incidents. The war and now COVID are very much impacting them. It's important that they be brought home to Canada.

[Annabelle Bodmer-Roy]

I might add quickly that 90% of the foreign children who are in that situation are under the age of 12. Approximately 50% are under the age of 5.

As Ms. Carmichael said, these children are incredibly vulnerable from they have had to live through and because many of them have been separated from family members.

In the context of Canada, as with the child who was already repatriated, there are Canadian family members who are willing and able to take care of these children. It's really the duty of Canada as a signatory to the Convention on the Rights of the Child to both repatriate the children who are citizens and take steps to prevent these children from becoming stateless.

In the context of COVID, there really is a renewed sense of urgency for governments to safely repatriate foreign children before it's too late, so they can receive the care they need and be safe from even further violence, abuse and the threat of disease.

[Stéphane Bergeron, Bloc, Montarville, QC]

Mr. Morley, do you want to add anything? No? Fine.

I just recall that the Minister of International Development stated before this committee that a sum of $1 billion had been allocated for additional international assistance to deal with the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Just so we can understand, let us remember that Canada's international assistance comes to about $5 billion, including the contributions to the United Nations. Let's also remember, still just so that we can understand, that—as we saw in the economic update—the government has indicated a deficit of $400 million, which represents expenditures that are three times greater than the federal government usually incurs.

So we can consider that a good part of the current assistance is being diverted towards COVID-19 needs. But reports are telling us that the crisis is causing greater vulnerability in populations susceptible to exploitation, especially children. We have seen the repercussions in terms of vaccination for other contagious diseases.

How can we deal with this dilution of the resources available on the ground? As we have seen, UNICEF has just launched the biggest fundraising campaign in its history. So that means that these are dark hours, and a lot must be done with few resources.

[Taryn Russell]

I can jump in.

As many of you know, the needs are just huge. The COVID-19 pandemic is a global crisis. It demands a global emergency response. We aren't going to get Canada's economy on track if the global economy is still off track. That means we need to be supporting the efforts that are going on around the world.

Civil society in Canada, including Save the Children, has been pushing for Canada to spend at least 1% of what it's spending on its COVID-19 response in global efforts. That would include efforts to direct funds to direct COVID response. That would be things like diagnostics, therapeutics and treatments and the ACT-Accelerator, and also dealing with the real secondary impacts, including humanitarian and development financing.

We did see the $400 million commitment that was made in September, which is great. We aren't clear yet on where that funding is flowing and what issues it's going to, but even here we've made some great recommendations on that. We're also continuing to engage the public on this to ensure that the public is educated and aware of what's going on and that they are feeling empowered to take action and support these global efforts.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sven Spengemann]

We'll have to leave it there. Thank you very much, Ms. Russell.

Thank you, Mr. Bergeron.

The final round of the evening once again goes to Ms. McPherson for eight and a half minutes. The floor is yours.

[Heather McPherson, NDP, Edmonton Strathcona, AB]

Thank you so much, Mr. Chair.

I want to start by thanking all of our witnesses. The work you do on the ground and working with children in these humanitarian crises is extremely difficult. I salute you. I've worked in this sector for most of my career. I know what you sacrifice to do this work. I want to just take a moment to say thank you very much for your efforts.

I have a few questions, and will start with the Save the Children team of Ms. Logel Carmichael and Ms. Russell.

Ms. Russell, you just talked about that 1% and how important that is and how we are, of course, very grateful for all the contributions the Canadian government has made to date. Of course, we are not near where we need to be at the 1%.

We have heard from others—and I would love to get your perspective—that even the commitments that have been made have been very slow to roll out. They have been very slow to hit the ground at a moment in time when there is such desperate urgency. Could you speak to that, please?

[Taryn Russell]

I can start.

Like I said, I think the commitments that Canada made have been really important. We're seeing the impacts of those. There are indications that Canada intends to make more commitments to international development funding. The $400 million was announced, as I said, in September, but we haven't seen indications of where that money is flowing yet.

I'm kind of going back to my earlier comments. In particular, when we're talking about the humanitarian response and the intersections of COVID-19 and the conflicts and climate change crisis that are already happening, that urgency is really needed. That's why it was one of our big recommendations.

It's not all about the quantity of money, but it's about the quality, how quickly the money is getting out the door and that we're providing thoughtful recommendations on where that money could actually be spent. For example, when we were talking about the neglected areas, including child protection, gender-based violence as well as mental health and psychosocial support for these children, I think that's where Canada can also play a real leadership role. It's not just with funding, but also by elevating these issues and ensuring that they're prioritized, which they've been doing in many cases, particularly around gender-based violence. We've seen really great leadership there.

[Heather McPherson, NDP, Edmonton Strathcona, AB]

Maybe I'll follow up on the gender-based violence piece.

Many in our sector are very proud of the feminist international assistance policy and what's been put forward and built upon the Muskoka initiative that came before. When you talk about the impacts of the lockdown and of COVID-19 on children—and I'd like to maybe hear from Mr. Morley on this, as well—could you speak particularly to what those impacts have been on girls and the additional challenges girls are facing?

[Taryn Russell]

I can start, and then I'll let UNICEF jump in as well.

That's been one of the most concerning things we've seen. There's a real threat of rolling back some really good progress that we've made globally on gender equality. The combination of increasing rates of poverty and the closures of schools has put girls in a really vulnerable position.

We've seen rates of gender-based violence or domestic violence increasing. We've seen girls at increased risk of early and child marriage in many contexts. For example, in Cox's Bazar, we've had reports coming in that child marriage rates are increasing. That also leads to early pregnancy. It's all connected. We know that when girls are too young to get pregnant, they are at really high risk of death as well as health complications.

This is one area where we're really stressing that we need to be scaling up our efforts to ensure that we don't roll back on the progress made. That means getting girls back into school and it means our health programming and stand-alone gender equality programs not falling off because of COVID measures.

[Heather McPherson, NDP, Edmonton Strathcona, AB]

The rollback is a big concern and is certainly a huge worry for all of us.

Mr. Morley, would you be willing to comment on that as well?

[David Morley]

Bill Gates said in his annual report that in 25 weeks in 2020, we lost 25 years of social progress. It's terrible what's happening, but it hasn't only been the number of children who are out of school. There are still 250 million children in sub-Saharan Africa who were in school at the beginning of the year but are not in school now. For the first time in 60 years, the number of children under the age of five who will die from preventable causes is going to go up. We have had 60 years of progress, and this is changing that.

We've had an incredible loss of social progress. As my colleague from Save the Children Canada was saying, what's happening to girls through all of this, and women, is horrendous.

The way to stop it is to first stop the pandemic. That's why things like the Covax facility are so important. We need the effort to get out. At UNICEF we're responsible for syringes. Next year we'll have to get two billion syringes. We've already pre-ordered 500 million syringes to be in place by the end of the year, but then there are the disposal boxes for the syringes.

Think of all of that. We're talking about how difficult it is in Canada. Think about what it's going to be like to reach the poorest places in the world. We know that if we don't stop it everywhere, we won't be able to stop it for us.

[Heather McPherson, NDP, Edmonton Strathcona, AB]

I think most Canadians understand that. I think most people understand this is a global pandemic. It is great to see the dollars that have flowed from Canada so far, but it is not enough. We don't have enough money in that Covax amount.

What would you like Canada's contribution to be?

[David Morley]

I know that all of you have to respond to the concerns of your constituents. We've had philanthropists from across the country, from B.C. to Quebec, the Manitoba Council for International Cooperation, businesses across Canada and 55,000 Canadians give us donations for this. We need more money for us to be able to buy the syringes and the vaccines. To what Dr. Al-Kassem said, Canadians are saying, through their donations to us, “Canada, do this.” We haven't seen a closing down at all at UNICEF; we're seeing Canadians opening up.

[Heather McPherson, NDP, Edmonton Strathcona, AB]

I'm running out of time, so I'm going to ask one last question. Maybe, David, I'll put it to you, and if we have time I'll go to Save the Children and the other groups.

Why do you think the Canadian government is not doing as much as it could do? We know Canadians see the need for it. We see this. We see Canadians supporting it. Why is the Canadian government still at historic lows, and what can I do about it?

[David Morley]

Well, I think you can pass the word that Canadians, in every single one of our ridings, are making donations to UNICEF, Save the Children, Dr. Al-Kassem and many other organizations. It is popular, and Canadians recognize it. Then you can make the change so that we can meet Lester Pearson's goal of 0.7%.

[Heather McPherson, NDP, Edmonton Strathcona, AB]

Wouldn't that be wonderful?

[David Morley]

Yes.

[Heather McPherson, NDP, Edmonton Strathcona, AB]

I have 30 seconds, so I will pass the question off to the other guests if they'd like to contribute. How can we get Canada to that 0.7%?

[Taryn Russell]

I can jump in.

As David said, we have seen an outpouring of interest and support from Canadians, which is fantastic—from individual families to philanthropists. I think it's a case of political will. It's something we can come together on to ensure that, if not now, when?

This is the time we need to be stepping up, especially if we want to get Canada back on track. We've learned in the past year that if the local is global and what we're doing in Canada and what we're not doing are affecting the world, we have an opportunity to make a real impact and better the lives of both Canadians and those abroad by making these investments now.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sven Spengemann]

Thank you very much, Ms. Russell and Ms. McPherson.

That brings us to the end of our scheduled time with today's witnesses. I would like to thank all of you on behalf of our committee.

Thank you very much for coming, for your expertise and for your testimony today.

I think we have one “orphaned” question that came from Mr. Fonseca, which we'll ask to be answered in writing. We'll get that to you. For those who are inclined to provide us with an answer, it would be helpful.

Thank you very much.

That brings us to the close of our meeting tonight. We will stand adjourned until our next meeting.