Subcommittee on International Human Rights Committee on May 11th, 2021

[Maninder Sidhu, Liberal, Brampton East, ON]

Thank you.

Thank you to all our witnesses for sharing your insights and taking time out of your busy schedules to be here with us this evening.

Ms. Gladding, as you know, the government is committed to helping make a real difference in Syria, Iraq, Jordan and Lebanon, committing over $4 billion since 2016. As you highlighted, in budget 2021 we provided roughly $527 million in 2021-22 to extend Canada's Middle East strategy.

In line with our feminist policies, we are seeing strong results, especially for women and girls, and focusing on continuing to support vulnerable populations. Along those lines, Ms. Gladding, what are the major protection needs, particularly among women and girls, and how are they being addressed in this crisis?

[Lindsay Gladding]

Thanks very much for that question.

What we are definitely seeing is that there are very real threats and real incidents of sexual assault and rape. As I said in my opening remarks, every girl we spoke to in our assessment told us that she is living with the fear of sexual assault and rape, so ensuring that we have resources to be able to provide services and provide prevention and protection for women and girls is certainly top of mind for us in the work we're doing.

Again, generally, access to basic services—to clean water, to food—are things that are certainly not unique to women and girls, but they are certainly incredibly vulnerable to a lack of resources and the impact that is having.

I would say again that while we are certainly encouraged by continued Canadian government support for our operations, the allocation to Global Affairs Canada is quite small when considering the overall support as part of our Middle East strategy, so the more resources we invest in ensuring that we can meet the needs of women and children.... As you said, we're making good progress, but the needs are continuing to far outstrip the resources available.

[Maninder Sidhu, Liberal, Brampton East, ON]

Thank you.

I have 30 seconds left, so I'll try to get this in there.

Ms. Gladding, are beneficiaries and local delivery partners, including local women's organizations, involved in decision-making related to the design, delivery and monitoring of some of these programs?

[Lindsay Gladding]

Yes, absolutely.

Everything we do in northwest Syria is done in partnership with global organizations. World Vision and organizations like us are very much committed to strengthening the capacity of local Syrian civil society, and all of our support is done in partnership.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Fonseca]

Thank you.

Now we'll move to MP Chiu for seven minutes.

[Kenny Chiu, Conservative, Steveston—Richmond East, BC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

My first question is to Ms. Deif.

Ms. Deif, you mentioned that it is estimated that dozens of Canadians are being held and detained in northern Syria and that over 20 of them are children. It's almost like they're guilty by association. Later on, you also mentioned that their identities have not been able to be confirmed without consular access and assessment.

How do we estimate how many men, women and children are Canadian?

[Farida Deif]

Thank you for your question.

These are the figures that we have learned from humanitarian organizations on the ground. The Kurdish-led authorities as well have identified those individuals who.... We know that of the adults, there are eight Canadian men and roughly 13 Canadian women.

The government certainly knows of these Canadians and their whereabouts. They're Canadian citizens. Many of their children were born in Syria during the reign of ISIS and so have no birth certificates, but they're certainly eligible for Canadian citizenship based on their parents' Canadian nationality.

Those are the figures. There may actually be more than the number that I mentioned, simply because there may be dual nationals there who are not reported.

[Kenny Chiu, Conservative, Steveston—Richmond East, BC]

You mentioned that consular access has not been provided.

Many of these places are actually controlled by non-state actors, as you also mentioned. Will Canadian consular staff be provided access to places like that in order to provide assistance or even to confirm their identities and even provide repatriation?

[Farida Deif]

The Kurdish-led authority, the non-state actor that is running these camps, has a line of communication with the Canadian government. We've been told repeatedly that the Canadian government does ask the Kurdish-led authorities about the well-being of Canadians there.

The Kurdish-led authority certainly want these Canadians repatriated. They would facilitate consular access through video, through phone and so on, but it really is a matter of political will as to whether Global Affairs Canada wants to provide direct assistance to these Canadians, provide them with travel documents and verify the citizenship of children who are now stateless.

Essentially, it's an issue of political will. There are means and creative solutions to providing consular assistance to this group of Canadians. We've seen dozens of countries, similarly with no consular presence in Syria, do exactly that: repatriate their nationals and provide them with consular assistance.

There is a Canadian consulate in Erbil that could certainly facilitate that. There is a special envoy to Syria that's based in our embassy in Beirut, so there really are a number of mechanisms in place to provide consular assistance without physically being present in Syria, as long as there is the political will to do so.

[Kenny Chiu, Conservative, Steveston—Richmond East, BC]

Ms. Aoláin, I was wondering if you could share with the committee other countries' experiences that are more successful. I heard about the U.S. being one of the successful examples, and they are even offering services to Canada and other countries. What are the experiences of other countries that have been successful in repatriating their citizens?

[Fionnuala Ní Aoláin]

We have a significant number of countries making extraordinary efforts to ensure the return of their nationals, and I have first-hand, with my team—

[Kenny Chiu, Conservative, Steveston—Richmond East, BC]

On a point of order, Mr. Chair, it looks as though the audio is quite weak. I don't know if it is just my headphone.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Fonseca]

I can hear well, but I don't know if others are having some issues.

[Fionnuala Ní Aoláin]

Is that better? Can you hear me now? Do you want me to speak more or less loudly?

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Fonseca]

Where is your microphone located?

[Fionnuala Ní Aoláin]

It's right here. It's in my—

Can you hear me, Chair, or is it just—

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Fonseca]

Okay. I can hear you, but it sounds as though MP Chiu is having some issues.

[Kenny Chiu, Conservative, Steveston—Richmond East, BC]

It seems that MP Sidhu also is having a problem.

I can hear, but I wonder if the translators are having some problems, Mr. Clerk. If so, then we probably need to fix that first.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Fonseca]

It looks as though the clerk is speaking to somebody.

[Fionnuala Ní Aoláin]

Chair, do you want me to proceed so at least you have a record of our country's efforts, or do you want me to hold?

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Fonseca]

We will just hold if some of the members can't hear.

Clerk, how is the interpretation with the sound?

[Kenny Chiu, Conservative, Steveston—Richmond East, BC]

He is not muted.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Fonseca]

Clerk, I don't know if you can hear me.

[The Clerk]

Mr. Chair, I apologize for that.

If I can't hear you, perhaps no one can hear anyone.

[Kenny Chiu, Conservative, Steveston—Richmond East, BC]

I can hear the clerk, but we were wondering if the witness's audio is good enough for translation. If so, we could continue. I personally have no problem.