We're asking for more funding, in particular because we're facing a situation that we didn't have in the past, where we have development challenges, but then we have major climate emergencies and then humanitarian crises, so it's making our work more expensive and more difficult.
Inflation touches everything, including good development, so this has an impact. Even a Canadian aid budget that remains steady is one that is declining globally. That's why, obviously, we're asking for more.
On what it means in terms of disruptions for our partners, one thing we've seen, and this is not specific to Canada, is that the aid community has a hard time keeping its attention on core anti-poverty work and core humanitarian work. For example, in the response to the war in Ukraine, we have seen much-needed support in that context, obviously, but it has definitely disrupted aid investments in many other countries. We speak to colleagues in the Horn of Africa, in eastern Africa, who are facing extreme hunger but also health systems that are really at their knees. We're talking about women's maternal health in these contexts being very difficult. These countries are seeing the whole world's attention turn elsewhere when they are facing one of the biggest crises of the century.
Canada has a role to play in keeping a steady ship and saying that we've made commitments to a feminist international assistance policy. We've made commitments to helping certain communities that are the hardest hit by climate change. Let's stick with it, even if we can show our solidarity when an earthquake hits somewhere else or when a war breaks out somewhere. Let's keep a steady ship, because organizations having their funding pulled from one day to the next because there are no development dollars left means literally life and death in certain circumstances.