Subcommittee on International Human Rights Committee on Dec. 10th, 2024

[Bob Rae]

Mr. Johns, first of all, on Gaza, insofar as you're asking me a question about forcible displacement, I don't believe anybody should be forcibly displaced from Gaza. I think Gaza's territorial integrity should be respected, and that's the position of the Government of Canada, which has been very clearly expressed by our Prime Minister and by our minister. As to the rest of your comments at the beginning, that's your opinion. I'm giving you the position of the Government of Canada.

On Syria, to be serious for a moment, I think there's a very difficult decision people have to make, because we don't quite know what the situation is—how stable it is and how much security there's going to be. Everyone, whether living in Canada or living in Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan or Syria, who is internally displaced is wondering if it's safe for them to go back home to Aleppo or another city that's been liberated. I think these are questions the Syrians themselves will have to decide.

We're doing everything we can to reinforce the security of Syria. We're doing everything we can to support the humanitarian agencies. I was talking yesterday to Mr. Fletcher, the new executive director of OCHA, which is the UN humanitarian agency. We had a very good conversation about this very question. I know our own government is looking all the time at assessing this as best we can, because we don't have our embassy in Damascus. We quite rightly pulled out of our embassy because of Assad, but we have terrific teams that are working in all of the neighbouring countries. They're working hard to give us the best possible information about the safety and security of the people in Syria.

I know that every family will be thinking about what they will do and how they are going to do it. I know that the Government of Canada will be reflecting on the ways we can provide the most accurate information and the ways we can provide all the assistance, humanitarian and otherwise, that, frankly, we've been providing.

We have done a fantastic job on behalf of civilians in Syria over the last 10 years. I've been very proud to see the efforts we've made. They've been extraordinary. I think they're widely appreciated by civil society groups in Syria, which are celebrating the end of the Assad government, a brutal dictatorship, but we have to figure out what is coming and what the political path is going forward. That will be a decision the Syrian people themselves will have to make.

[The Chair, Liberal, Fayçal El-Khoury]

You have one minute.

[Gord Johns, NDP, Courtenay—Alberni, BC]

I appreciate that extra bit of time.

Mr. Rae or Mr. Kimmell, is there anything you want to add based on the questions you've heard today around the table?

[Bob Rae]

Go ahead, Matt.

[Matthieu Kimmell, Director, Humanitarian Policy Division, Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development]

Thank you very much, Ambassador, and thank you very much, honourable member.

I appreciate the conversation we've had so far and the conversation that I heard from the previous panel.

There's no question that the crisis of displacement is extremely complicated. It's extremely complex. I think the ambassador did a very good job of speaking to the different ways in which Canada responds.

From my vantage point of the humanitarian response, I can tell you that the billion dollars the ambassador spoke of earlier is reaching people in 67 countries. Most of those people have been affected by conflict or by natural disasters. We're working with a really strong group of partners—the UN, the Red Cross, civil society, Canadian civil society actors and national civil society actors—to provide the type of assistance that people on the move need in order to feel protected, to feel safe and to feel that they are not at risk of being sent home into difficult and dangerous conditions. We're working to support them in the spaces and places where they are, and also to support the communities that host them.

I think that's a very important point. Governments—like Colombia, but everywhere—that are hosting refugees are doing so often at times when they have great crises of their own. I think 87% of refugees are in lower- and middle-income countries. They are already facing significant challenges, and they need to be supported in the work they're doing to welcome refugees and other displaced persons.

I'll leave it there.

[The Chair, Liberal, Fayçal El-Khoury]

Thank you very much.

Thank you, Mr. Rae and Mr. Kimmell. Your presence was extremely important for this subcommittee. Your good answers, your comments and your declarations really enlightened this subcommittee. I thank you from the bottom of my heart on behalf of all members and the staff here. We wish you the best.

If you feel that other information may be of interest to the committee, please feel to write to the clerk or to me.

I wish you well.

[Shuv Majumdar, Conservative, Calgary Heritage, AB]

Mr. Chair, before they hang up, can we still chat with them, just a friendly chat?

[The Chair, Liberal, Fayçal El-Khoury]

We will suspend for a couple of minutes.

[Proceedings continue in camera]