Evidence of meeting #24 for Foreign Affairs and International Development in the 43rd Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was military.
A video is available from Parliament.
Director General, Southeast Asia, Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development
We are on track to disburse all of that funding by the end of this fiscal year.
Conservative
Michael Chong Conservative Wellington—Halton Hills, ON
Thank you. I appreciate that.
How much of that money was spent in Rakhine province as opposed to Cox's Bazar?
Director General, Southeast Asia, Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development
I can take that question, Mr. Chair.
Precisely in Rakhine.... I can only give it to you at the country level, so it would be the amount that we would have been spending in Myanmar.
Director General, Southeast Asia, Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development
It's approximately.... Funding is from a base level of $15 million to, with some of the additional funding that was provided through the crisis response, approximately $40 million a year over the three years.
Conservative
Michael Chong Conservative Wellington—Halton Hills, ON
Okay, thank you.
Is the development assistance going directly to humanitarian groups on the ground or is it flowing through state entities—the $40 million and whatever is left in the $300-million envelope?
Director General, Southeast Asia, Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development
Go ahead, Paul.
Assistant Deputy Minister, Asia Pacific, Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development
Chair, that funding is going through civil society organizations. It does not go through the military government.
Conservative
Michael Chong Conservative Wellington—Halton Hills, ON
Okay.
Does Global Affairs Canada have any concerns about development assistance for the 130,000 Rohingya who are still in Myanmar? Are there any concerns that the development assistance for those 130,000 Rohingya may, in fact, be exacerbating the human rights situation on the ground for the Rohingya?
In other words, there have been suggestions from some humanitarian groups that by continuing to work with Myanmar authorities in Rakhine province, they are in some ways being complicit in the government's efforts to continue to segregate and to deprive the Rohingya through these...what are essentially concentration camps in that part of the country. Is there any concern from the department about that?
Assistant Deputy Minister, Asia Pacific, Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development
We have met with Canada's development partners to discuss the situation in order to [Technical difficulty—Editor] you have raised. We are making adjustments based on information on the ground from our development partners to calibrate accordingly.
Conservative
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Sven Spengemann
Thank you very much, Mr. Chong. We'll have to leave it there. That's your time, sir.
Liberal
Liberal
Peter Fonseca Liberal Mississauga East—Cooksville, ON
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Can you tell us more about Canada's international engagement with regard to the current situation in the country? We sanctioned these nine military leaders through Magnitsky and the sanctions that we've put on them. Was that in collaboration with our partners? Are we doing this with the United States or with other nations? Can you drill down on that and let us know what type of collaboration we have with our international partners and how we are coming together to provide a stronger front?
Assistant Deputy Minister, Asia Pacific, Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development
As I may have indicated earlier, prior to the coup Canada already had in place one of the most comprehensive sanctions regimes on Myanmar as compared to like-minded partners, including the EU, the U.K. and the U.S.
As I indicated earlier, prior to the coup Canada had already sanctioned two of the largest military conglomerates, Myanmar Economic Corporation and Myanmar Economic Holdings Limited, as well as 42 other entities affiliated with the military.
In specific response to the coup, in discussions with our allies, we recently announced additional targeted sanctions on non-military leaders. We are in daily discussions with like-minded partners both in respect of capitals and on the ground in order to make further adjustments to the sanctions as warranted.
Liberal
Peter Fonseca Liberal Mississauga East—Cooksville, ON
Thank you.
Can you tell us more about the work that Canada's ambassador to the United Nations, Bob Rae, is doing to address the current situation in Myanmar and the plight of the Rohingya? I know he was very active on this prior to being our ambassador and envoy to the UN. Now, as our ambassador, how is he helping with these [Technical difficulty—Editor]?
Assistant Deputy Minister, Asia Pacific, Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development
You are correct in noticing the active engagement by Canada's ambassador to the UN on the ground. We are in daily discussion with him and his team in terms of advocating on behalf of Canada our concerns and calibrating with the like-minded there as well as with our mission in Yangon and respective capitals.
You will note that he welcomed the courageous decision of Myanmar's permanent representative to the United Nations in terms of claiming allegiance to the democratically elected government and denouncing the coup. We are conferring in terms of other issues in terms of our comprehensive measures vis-à-vis Myanmar in terms of addressing those issues on the ground.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Sven Spengemann
Mr. Fonseca, could I pause you for a moment just before you go to your next question? You have two minutes left.
Could you select your headset? It's improperly selected, and interpretation cannot pick up the sound properly, or just unplug it and plug it back in. Either one of those should fix it, I'm advised. Use the small arrow feature next to the mute button or just plug in the headset again.
Liberal
Liberal
Liberal
Peter Fonseca Liberal Mississauga East—Cooksville, ON
I'm going to follow up on what Mr. Chong was asking about our embassy consular services over there. How many staff do we have there? Is there a high-risk level for these staff? We're putting these sanctions on these military leaders. How are they taken care of? What is the security of our Canadians who are in Myanmar? Have we thought about shutting it down and bringing them home?
Assistant Deputy Minister, Asia Pacific, Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development
We are in daily contact with our head of mission and staff as recently as this morning. I have expressed that our highest concern is Canada's duty of care obligations to our ambassador, the team and their respective dependants. We are monitoring the situation. We have a plan based on the number of triggers in terms of the level of gravity occurring on the ground there.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Sven Spengemann
Mr. Thoppil, I'm going to have to pause you for a moment—hopefully, no more.
We have bells from the House of Commons. We need unanimous consent from the committee. I would propose to continue for 12 minutes until 5:30. Are there any objections to continuing until 5:30?
Seeing none, I give you the floor back. Please continue, Mr. Thoppil.
Assistant Deputy Minister, Asia Pacific, Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development
Therefore, based on our plan with regard to potential triggers that would necessitate adjustments, such as voluntary departures of staff and their dependants, that is top of mind. We are in discussions with like-minded...in terms of when those would triggers arrive. At this juncture they're not there, but a daily assessment is under way as we speak.