Thank you very much.
Good evening, Mr. Chair and committee members.
I will not go into describing the situation in Pakistan. Previous speakers have covered that and, in the previous session, details and statistics were given.
I will introduce Humanity First. It is an international humanitarian aid agency with branches in 62 countries. Our Canadian headquarters are based in the city of Vaughan, Ontario. Humanity First provides emergency assistance using a global volunteer network, irrespective of race, gender, age, religion or political affiliation. Since 1995, Humanity First has responded to over 190 emergencies in 99 countries and assisted around 2.5 million people affected by natural disasters, including major responses in Haiti, Bangladesh and the Philippines. This is in addition to our other humanitarian programs.
Since the start of flooding in Pakistan, Humanity First has continued to assist victims of the flood. Humanity First has provided over 1.1 million meals, distributed thousands of care packs and helped tens of thousands of people with emergency supplies. We have helped 68 medical camps, where over 101 doctors treated over 25,000 patients. Humanity First has given tents, mosquito nets and water purification tablets to affected people. In fact, 3,395 volunteers have worked over 34,700 hours to help.
Our long-term plan includes building 500 homes for impacted families, continuing our medical clinics, providing farmers with feed for their livestock and providing crop compensation and fertilizers for farmers. We will also be assisting with other needs, such as education of children and psychosocial support.
Like all other international organizations, Humanity First is also facing various challenges on the ground, including but not limited to the safety and security of our volunteers, the fund transfer process, and the inflation, which is not only impacting Pakistan and Canada but is worldwide. However, the biggest challenge that Humanity First has faced was not on the ground in Pakistan; rather, sadly, it is being faced in Canada, our homeland.
I would like to bring to the attention of this committee how the launching of the matching fund has adversely impacted Humanity First and many other small Canadian NGOs. The Government of Canada announced funding of $30 million to help humanitarian partners provide life-saving services. Also, on September 13, Canada launched a matching fund in which the government matched dollar for dollar donations made by individuals to the Humanitarian Coalition and a couple of other organizations. The funds were matched up to a maximum of $7.5 million. Sadly, Humanity First did not receive any funding from the $30 million announced, and we are not part of the matching fund.
What was the impact of that? Canadian donors are among the savviest people, who want to ensure that their donation has the maximum impact. When they find out that the government is going to match their donations to certain organizations, they choose only those organizations to get the value of their donation doubled up. It definitely makes sense. Who would not like to complement their generosity by increasing the value of their donations? However, this unfair practice negatively impacts organizations like Humanity First in terms of fewer donations, resulting in the shrinking of our response, despite our potential. Moreover, some donors take it as a credibility issue. They prefer and trust those organizations that are funded by the government. We received numerous calls asking us if the government would match their donation. When we said no, they did not donate to us. We lost a substantial amount of donation that could have been used by us in Pakistan. We rely on our donors to provide this help.
The government completely ignored some key factors when deciding about matching funds, factors such as on-the-ground presence, past track record, availability of resources on the ground, volunteer base and the agility and nimbleness of the organization.
For example, Humanity First has a proven track record of being a trusted partner of the then CIDA when we responded to typhoon Haiyan in 2014. We built over 400 homes and two schools with help from funding by the Government of Canada, a project on record that was successfully delivered by Humanity First. The fact that Humanity First has over 100 doctors and over 3,000 volunteers on the ground in Pakistan with the ability to reach out to a wider population, and that we have already helped thousands of victims from our own resources, was never considered by the government when deciding matching funds.
I have only two recommendations.
We recommend that the government consider pre-qualifying a larger base and a mix of large and small organizations as their trusted partners who are eligible and may automatically receive government funding as their on-the-ground partner.
As well, for matching funds, the government should impartially and universally match funds for all charitable organizations that receive donations for the particular cause and that are also active on the ground.
I will end my submission by saying that it is never too late to change this unfair policy. There is an urgency for the need to help the people who are impacted, and aid delayed is aid denied.
Thank you very much.