Foreign Affairs Committee on Feb. 18th, 2021

[Heather McPherson, NDP, Edmonton Strathcona, AB]

I think Ms. Whitman spoke to the idea of children who were in conflict before the added burden of COVID-19 came upon us. I have the interesting role of being on the international human rights subcommittee as well as being part of the foreign affairs committee. We've been looking at situations in Cameroon and Ethiopia recently, the impacts those conflicts have had on children and how they have escalated during COVID-19.

Now, Canada plays an important role, both in terms of our international development dollars—our humanitarian dollars—but also our influence at a multilateral level.

Perhaps I'll start with you, Ms. Whitman. Do you feel that Canada could have more influence? Are we doing enough? Are we using the tools we have significantly and substantially enough?

[Dr. Shelly Whitman]

I would like to really emphasize that those two cases, Ethiopia and Cameroon, are great examples of where Canada could be getting in earlier, before we get to a full-out catastrophe on the ground. One of the pieces we're working on is related to early warning: early warning of recruitment and how that's related to early warning of further mass atrocities and genocide prevention.

I would say Canada could play a much stronger role. Cameroon has been looking to Canada to play a role, especially because of the dynamic of the anglophone-francophone similarities. That is a far stronger role we could be playing.

My last point is that this is where peace processes and the role that Canada could play in bringing diverse players together and putting a priority on children's protection are something we should be around the world advocating for.

[Heather McPherson, NDP, Edmonton Strathcona, AB]

Mr. Matas or Mr. Murthy, do you want to add anything from your perspectives?

[David Matas]

What I would say generally about these issues relating to child sexual exploitation is that when you're dealing with governments, on the whole—well, universally—they're supportive. With some human rights issues you get push-back from governments, but generally not on this type of issue. We should be taking more advantage of the overall global willingness, at least at the level of principle, to deal with the problem, and be more aggressive in putting forward our solutions.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sven Spengemann]

Thank you very much, Ms. McPherson.

We have less than 10 minutes left with our scheduled panel before we go to our second panel. I'd like to propose that we do what we don't ordinarily do, but do under some circumstances, which is to give a member of each party an opportunity to ask one more follow-up question—a quick two and a half to three minutes back and forth—so that everybody can ask at least one supplementary question.

If the committee concurs, then I propose that we go ahead with Mr. Diotte for somewhere between two and a half and three minutes, please.

[Kerry Diotte, Conservative, Edmonton Griesbach, AB]

I've noticed lately on social media—which maybe should be called anti-social media—but when people are talking about foreign aid and helping others.... I don't know whether COVID has gotten everyone extra owly, but you often see comments like, “Let's help our people first, in Canada.” I've seen a lot of it lately.

This is an open question for whoever wants to jump in on this. How do you convince cynical Canadians that there's a real investment here by helping people during this pandemic, especially children?

[David Matas]

Of course there's a connection between what happens abroad and what happens in Canada, and one can see that with our refugee population. The refugee population is not just abroad. A lot of it comes to Canada. We have an interest in going to the root causes of problems that generate refugee outflows, so even if we're just concerned about ourselves, we should be concerned about that.

[Kerry Diotte, Conservative, Edmonton Griesbach, AB]

Would anyone else like to weigh in on that?

[Dr. Shelly Whitman]

I would like to. I think it's important for people to see the direct linkages that globalization has on Canadian security as well as the safety of our own children and the future of our own country and economy. We're all interlinked. You have to do a better job educating the Canadian public if they don't understand that. All of you who sit in the seats of power have opportunities to change that voice also.

Lastly, when we don't, we see the impacts of it through things like a global pandemic that will come back to our own country. If we don't sort this out globally then we will have repercussions domestically as well.

[Kerry Diotte, Conservative, Edmonton Griesbach, AB]

Does anyone else have an opinion? Do I have enough time for one more?

[The Chair, Liberal, Sven Spengemann]

We have about 45 seconds, Mr. Diotte. Yes, if somebody else wants to come in with a supplementary thought, they are very welcome.

[Jaya Murthy]

I think it's been said very well; the global pandemic has underscored the criticality of multilateralism and really working to support all countries. If one health system is weak, and if an outbreak is happening in that health system, then there's a risk of it spreading to many other countries around the world. We're seeing that with COVID-19. That's exactly why we need to take a global approach.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sven Spengemann]

Thank you very much.

Mr. Fonseca.

[Peter Fonseca, Liberal, Mississauga East—Cooksville, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you to our guests for your testimonies.

Mr. Matas, how has the COVID-19 pandemic affected the recruitment of child soldiers?

[David Matas]

ECPAT is concerned with sexual exploitation, and the impact of COVID-19 on recruitment of children for sex has been adverse because there's been more desperation among the target population; it's become more vulnerable. It's also been adverse because the protective mechanisms have been underfunded and some of them have simply been shut down with COVID precautions, including a lot of the workers who are not going out because of COVID precautions.

So we get an increased problem and a weakened ability to respond to it.

[Peter Fonseca, Liberal, Mississauga East—Cooksville, ON]

Mr. Matas and Dr. Whitman, in what ways are children used as strategic and tactical innovation in conflict?

[Dr. Shelly Whitman]

They are used by many different armed groups as well as seven state armed forces that continue to recruit and use children. They're used in a multitude of ways. They can be used in support functions like porters, messengers or spies, for sexual services, as frontline combatants or human shields and may also be used as recruiters of other children.

They are used in many ways, and it will depend on the place, the armed group, the tactics and the approaches they may be taking. But certainly one of the things that is very important is that those who are using children often very much understand that many of the peacekeeping forces and others who may be facing children see that as a moral dilemma.

[Peter Fonseca, Liberal, Mississauga East—Cooksville, ON]

Where is this most prevalent? What countries and what areas?

[Dr. Shelly Whitman]

As I said, I can name the countries for you. We can certainly look at many of the nations that exist in conflict, whether South Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo, Somalia, Nigeria is also there and Mali. We have from Iraq to Afghanistan, Myanmar certainly, Colombia.... So it really is a global dynamic for you to understand.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sven Spengemann]

Thank you, Mr. Fonseca.

Mr. Bergeron, you have three minutes.

[Stéphane Bergeron, Bloc, Montarville, QC]

Thank you so much, Mr. Chair.

As was noted at the outset, UNICEF is celebrating its 75^th anniversary this year. Humanitarian aid has never been more urgent than during the current pandemic.

To vaccinate as many people as possible, some airline companies are going to lend a hand by helping to transport vaccines. Ten companies, including Air France, KLM and Ethiopian Airlines, have agreed to help UNICEF by transporting vaccine doses. Air Canada, Air Transat and WestJet are not among them.

Is there a way of finding out whether they've shown an interest in this? Can any conclusions be drawn from the non-participation of Canadian airline companies in this operation

[Jaya Murthy]

I can't speak to the Canadian airline companies specifically not joining, but what I can speak to are the efforts are that under way with all logistics with the entire logistics industry to support this effort in terms of supplying vaccines and also other critical equipment such as cold chain equipment to countries all around the world.

There are huge efforts under way in terms of striking innovative partnerships with companies that are providing in-kind contributions, whether they are storage facilities, boat transfers or airlines, to contribute to the effort. What we're seeing is, as a few companies are coming on board, more and more companies are coming on board wanting to join the effort.

I know it's our supply division that is co-ordinating this effort for the distribution of supplies and equipment all around the world, and they're working with the entire logistics industry around that. While there are currently agreements with 10 companies, I know they're exploring and having conversations with many others.

[Stéphane Bergeron, Bloc, Montarville, QC]

I believe I still have a few seconds left to ask you a related question.

In terms of logistics, can other airline and transportation companies join the operation to meet needs? If so, what do you expect from Canadian companies?

[Jaya Murthy]

I think absolutely there's a need. This is a historic effort. We've never seen a supply effort on this scale before; it's essentially all around the world. When we're providing supplies, often they're to humanitarian emergencies such as those in many of the countries we've mentioned, but here we're in a situation where every country is affected, and we need to provide vaccines and equipment to every single country. It's an effort that not one agency, one company or one actor can undertake. It's going to require a coalition of industries across countries to work together to be able to get the vaccines and the equipment to all of the populations in need.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sven Spengemann]

Thank you so much.

We'll have to leave it there.

To bring our discussion to a close this afternoon, Ms. McPherson, you have three minutes.