Foreign Affairs Committee on Feb. 14th, 2023

[Stephen Salewicz]

I won't go into budget deliberations. What I would say is that we're identifying what resources are available currently, because the importance right now is timeliness of funding. We're looking at how we can access resources that are available through a crisis pool, for instance, or other types of tools like that.

[Heather McPherson, NDP, Edmonton Strathcona, AB]

I have one last question. If you could talk to me a little bit about—

[The Chair, Liberal, Ali Ehsassi]

I'm afraid you're out of time, MP McPherson. My apologies.

[Heather McPherson, NDP, Edmonton Strathcona, AB]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ali Ehsassi]

We will now proceed to the second round. The first member is MP Genuis. For this round, each member will be provided four minutes.

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I'm going to take about 20 seconds and then hand it over to Mr. Epp.

I just want to say, with respect to the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan, that Conservatives are similarly concerned. I want to mention, following Ms. McPherson's notice of motion, that this committee adopted its sixth report, which calls on the Government of Canada to fix the barriers that are preventing vital humanitarian aid from getting into Afghanistan.

We see no harm in the committee's reiterating itself, but I do want to flag that previous motion.

Thank you for the work you're doing on Turkey and Syria.

I will now hand it over to Mr. Epp.

[Dave Epp, Conservative, Chatham-Kent—Leamington, ON]

I'm going to go back to Ms. McPherson's comments, specifically on the anticipated UN appeal. I didn't get a clear understanding that you're going to look at it. Are you considering supporting it?

Let me stop there for the moment.

[Stephen Salewicz]

Sure.

Just to be clear here, there is a UN appeal that has been issued today for close to $400 million U.S. As we have done in every other case where there has been an appeal issued, Canada has responded and—

[Stéphane Bergeron, Bloc, Montarville, QC]

The audio isn't working, Mr. Chair.

[Stephen Salewicz]

You can't hear me.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ali Ehsassi]

Yes, we're trying to fix this problem, so I certainly hope we can get it up and running.

Again, Mr. Salewicz, could we ask that you move the mike much closer? It has been a recurring problem, but we would be grateful if you could do so.

Thank you.

[Stephen Salewicz]

I'm too soft-spoken, I guess. I'm sorry about that. I will speak up.

Yes, a UN appeal has been issued for Syria, close to $400 million U.S. As we do for all appeals, we look at them—that was my suggestion—and we will finance a response through this appeal. It's something that we have been anticipating for a while and looking forward to receiving, to having a document we can refer to.

[Dave Epp, Conservative, Chatham-Kent—Leamington, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I stopped my clock in that interruption, so I hope you did too.

You referenced earlier that we had existing relationships in Syria. I'm not going to ask you any of the specifics of it, but I assume that's under some sort of programming requirements from those partners.

Is there flexibility built in? Given the disaster now, can resources be shifted quickly to address this within the existing programs?

[Stephen Salewicz]

That's a very helpful question because it is exactly what's happening. As I have mentioned, we have close to $50 million already invested in Syria. At the start of the year, those monies were allocated to our partners. They consist of NGO, UN and Red Cross partners. Indeed, we're hearing from the field that they are pivoting already, using those funds to respond to the crisis-affected population.

Now, unfortunately, the crisis in Syria is tremendous, and it predates, of course, the earthquake, but those partners are using our resources. For instance, one of our partners has transported $300,000 in medical supplies, distributing them to hospitals and health clinics in northwest Syria. Food is being distributed. Other partners are all pivoting. This is exactly what's happening.

[Dave Epp, Conservative, Chatham-Kent—Leamington, ON]

Thank you.

I want to give time to my colleague, Mr. Hoback. I'm done.

[Randy Hoback, Conservative, Prince Albert, SK]

Thank you, David.

I have a question. You said that eight days later you were doing your first flight out of Dubai into the area. Why did it take eight days to respond?

[Stephen Salewicz]

It's not that it took eight days to respond. It took eight days for us to get clearance for that flight into Syria. Within hours of the earthquake's happening, we were on the phone with our partners at the Canadian Red Cross to release those supplies.

[Randy Hoback, Conservative, Prince Albert, SK]

I'm sorry. I don't have a lot of time.

It's Syria that delayed the—

[Stephen Salewicz]

No, I'm sorry. It was Turkey.

[Randy Hoback, Conservative, Prince Albert, SK]

It was Turkey that delayed the response.

[Stephen Salewicz]

It's not delay. There was infrastructure damage. Airports were damaged. We're flying these supplies in. We have to get clearance and approval from the Turkish Red Crescent that they will receive and distribute those items.

It's part of a long logistics chain, because it's not just Canadian goods that are being received. There's a call-out across the world for these supplies and they're going into a logistics chain into the country.

[Randy Hoback, Conservative, Prince Albert, SK]

That's fair enough.

I apologize. I don't mean to interrupt. I just have such little time—

[The Chair, Liberal, Ali Ehsassi]

I'm afraid you're out of time, Mr. Hoback. Thank you.

We go to Mr. Sarai.

[Randeep Sarai, Liberal, Surrey Centre, BC]

Thank you, Chair.

My concern is the same as many of the other members with regard to aid to Syria. We were hearing about the aid going to Turkey. A lot of my constituents are also concerned about aid improperly going to the Assad regime. I'm wondering how you're making sure we prevent that.

On the other side, are you seeing the openings that were announced in the last couple of days about routes to allow for aid into Syria? Are they in fact valid routes and are they getting to the places that are in need?

[Stephen Salewicz]

Thank you for the question.

Indeed, we have a long history of working in northwest Syria. Those concerns of your constituents are the same ones we share. Our concern is that our assistance goes directly to individuals impacted by the long-running humanitarian crisis. That's why we work with experienced partners that have the systems in place to vet and track all the assistance that's provided. They're Canadian partners, international NGOs, the Red Cross and the UN. That's top of mind for us.

In terms of routes from Turkey into Syria, that's indeed been a big challenge over the last number of years, where the number of routes has been reduced over time to one. We've heard already today that the Assad regime has agreed to two additional routes being opened up. One of them is already being used by the UN today.

We have some confirmation now that goods are starting to flow through these new routes.