Foreign Affairs Committee on Oct. 26th, 2022

[Randy Hoback, Conservative, Prince Albert, SK]

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you, witnesses, for being here in person. It's so nice to see you here.

I have two ranges of questions: one is about during the flooding activity and our response time, and then one on postflood and the realities of accommodation and what's happened on the ground—loss of crops and things like that.

During the flooding time, did we have our assets in place to help as best as possible? When you talk about the climate crisis and the forecast of 3°C to 6°C increases, are we really looking at where we have assets located around the world to make sure we can respond to areas of high risk for events like this in the future?

[Marie-Louise Hannan]

Mr. Chair, I want to make sure that I understand the question about Canada having its assets in place.

[Randy Hoback, Conservative, Prince Albert, SK]

I should add the United Nations to the equation.

[Marie-Louise Hannan]

Of course, Canada has representatives on the ground, who are based at our mission in Islamabad, and they are watching the situation as it evolves. This flood is of a catastrophic nature, and, of course, it was an evolving situation. It continues to impact the country, knowing that still tens of thousands of square kilometres are flooded.

I would say that the real-time reaction and quick action to respond to the floods marked our action in terms of days, not weeks, because this was a situation that demanded quick action.

I'm not sure this answers the question fully—

[Randy Hoback, Conservative, Prince Albert, SK]

I guess maybe I can clarify.

I want to make sure that Canada's military—whether it's DART or other groups—has the ability to get to that rapid response. Are we really looking at things globally in light of climate change to make sure we have them in the appropriate locations? For example, in the hurricane response out of Panama.... If we're going to see more flooding in Asia, should we be putting more assets in a region somewhere in that area?

Are you looking at that?

[Marie-Louise Hannan]

I feel like my colleague Christopher is ready to take this question and respond.

[Randy Hoback, Conservative, Prince Albert, SK]

It has to be very short. I apologize. I only get four minutes.

[Christopher Gibbins]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

In the immediate response, the Government of Pakistan was extremely well equipped and they did not ask for any immediate international assistance such as DART.

When DART is deployed, it's always based on a request for assistance. In this case, the Pakistan military and civilian...were firmly interlinked to respond to the crisis in the immediate.

[Randy Hoback, Conservative, Prince Albert, SK]

My next question is on some reports I have here. There were some 800,000 cattle lost. The rice crop is lost. They're the fourth-largest exporter of rice. Wheat is possibly lost. As we look at the world crisis in food, how is this impacting it globally?

Then I look at their debt situation with the IMF. The IMF came out with a bailout package, but then put in some strict requirements with regard to getting that bailout package.

Is Pakistan actually going to be able to feed itself going forward? What are the domino effects of them not having a crop, as it associates with Africa and the surrounding areas?

[Marie-Louise Hannan]

Thank you.

The global impact is, of course, quite devastating. As I mentioned in the opening remarks, at the moment a study is being undertaken just to understand the extent of the damage overall, because this will be long-ranging. We're talking about 13,000 kilometres of roads and many crops that were lost at a time when food insecurity is heightened because of situations beyond Pakistan's borders—the Russia-Ukraine conflict chief among them.

Pakistan is one of the top 10 food-insecure nations in the world, so this is definitely a global impact that has not yet been measured because it's not yet possible to understand the extent of the damage.

In terms of the IMF bailout and the domino effect that this may have on Pakistan, I think it remains to be adequately studied whether Pakistan will have a more solid economic place from which to continue to negotiate. This is really part of the challenge facing Pakistan right now.

We are trying to focus on the humanitarian relief and the ongoing support that will help Pakistan come back to a place where they're able to engage with the international community and show that they are delivering on at least the commitments that they made already.

[Randy Hoback, Conservative, Prince Albert, SK]

Just a quick comment on that—

[The Chair, Liberal, Ali Ehsassi]

Thank you, Mr. Hoback. You're considerably over your time. I'm sorry about that.

We go next to Dr. Fry.

You have four minutes.

[Hedy Fry, Liberal, Vancouver Centre, BC]

Thank you, Chair.

I wanted to pick up on some of the questions that were asked earlier in terms of the fact that we know climate change is going to keep impacting Pakistan. There will continue to be floods and problems at that level. What are we doing to look at resilience and at how we build structures that will not allow for this to happen? That's the first question.

The one that concerns me a lot is the fact that, as we know, when there's flooding, there are fecal-borne infections and mosquito-borne infections. We see dengue and cholera, etc. Is there any immunization program being rolled out to help immunize people in this part of the world?

Third, women tend to be impacted a great deal. In many countries, floods and the lack of infrastructure often do not allow people in the rainy season—never mind during a flood—to be able to access clinics, to access reproductive health care, to have babies and to get the kind of help that they need.

What are we going to do to look at resilience in that region? Do we have to wait every time until there is a flood or a problem to do this quick emergency mitigation, but not build infrastructure to prevent it in the future and to create resilience?

[The Chair, Liberal, Ali Ehsassi]

I apologize for jumping in before the officials provide an answer.

As you will notice, the bells are ringing and the lights are flashing. Do we have unanimous consent to go on until five minutes before the vote?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ali Ehsassi]

That's excellent. Thank you.

Now we can go back to the officials for their response.

[Hedy Fry, Liberal, Vancouver Centre, BC]

I hope you stopped the clock, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ali Ehsassi]

Yes, I did.

[Hedy Fry, Liberal, Vancouver Centre, BC]

Thank you.

[Marie-Louise Hannan]

Mr. Chair, I believe the question illustrates a number of the multi-faceted impacts and the ways that it is extremely important to prevent and to act before things are at a crisis level.

In fact, Canada's overall bilateral assistance program for Pakistan, which has been in place for many years, aims to do just that, so thank you for the opportunity to highlight that the continuing challenges were there before the floods, and they are exacerbated by the floods, but they will continue to be a challenge.

Canada, in fact, does have specific bilateral assistance to address things like the challenge of polio. That is one program we support with financial assistance.

We recognize the particular impact of this crisis and some of the ongoing challenges associated with the development profile of Pakistan. We do recognize it has a higher impact on women, and there are multi-faceted approaches that are used in order to address those, including through the Canada fund for local initiatives—

[Hedy Fry, Liberal, Vancouver Centre, BC]

I'm sorry. Excuse me. I don't have a lot of time. I just want a couple of basic questions answered.

Are we going to look at helping to build health infrastructure that would help clinics where women can go to deliver their babies and have that kind of need attended to? Are we looking at infrastructure with regard to electricity so we can have lights and we can have intravenous drips for people who need them? Are we looking at immunization to prevent these kinds of diseases from happening in the future?

There's a health component that I want to find out about.

[Christopher Gibbins]

Health is fundamental to our development assistance program currently. It's an integral part of any humanitarian response, and it's also going to be integral to the assessments that are under way currently. They are always, for Canada and for the UN, done through a very clear gender lens and recognition that women and girls are particularly affected at times of crisis and just generally in terms of situations of poverty and challenge.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ali Ehsassi]

Thank you kindly for that.

Next, we go to Mr. Bergeron.

You have two minutes, sir.

[Stéphane Bergeron, Bloc, Montarville, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

We know that on June 30, 2022, Pakistan had nearly 1.3 million registered Afghan refugees, according to the United Nations.

Are you able to tell us more about the situation of these Afghan refugees in Pakistan?

[Marie-Louise Hannan]

Mr. Chair, one of the things that our commitment to Pakistan stresses is the situation of Afghans in Pakistan. That is part of our commitment to negotiate and continue working with Pakistan on the issue of barriers relating to travel and exiting Afghanistan. That is being done under a program that offers them safe passage.

Canada is committed to bringing 40,000 Afghans here. We have already admitted 21,000 refugees from Afghanistan. Many of them travelled through Pakistan, because that was the most likely exit route to date. That is one of the possibilities, but many people have travelled via that route. We have worked closely with the government of Pakistan to bring them to Canada after that.