Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I shall address the most prolonged refugee problem in the post-World War II era, namely the case of the Palestine refugees, and what Canada can do about it. I do so as one of the very few Canadians who have ever served in senior roles with both UNRWA and the UNHCR, which I did between 2002 and 2014.
I have three points.
First, UNRWA's mandate is part of what the United Nations has determined is its “permanent responsibility” for the question of Palestine. This responsibility originates in the unsuccessful attempt by the United Nations General Assembly to partition Palestine without the consent of the Palestinian people in 1947 and, of course, the ensuing “Nakba” of 1948, during which at least 750,000 Palestinians were forcibly exiled from their country.
UNRWA was created in 1949 to provide direct relief and works programs to the Palestine refugees until their plight was resolved in accordance with international law, including their right to return, to restitution and to compensation; however, these rights have consistently been violated by Israel, which has forbidden the return of the Palestine refugees simply because they are not Jewish. As a result, the UN General Assembly has repeatedly renewed the mandate of UNRWA, most recently for a further three years, in December 2025. Today, some 5.9 million Palestine refugees are registered with UNRWA, making them eligible for education, health, relief and social services in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and occupied Palestine.
This committee has heard assertions that UNRWA's practice of extending refugee status to descendants of Palestine refugees is an anomaly. That is incorrect. Under international law, when durable solutions remain elusive over successive generations, international refugee protection—whether done through UNHCR or UNRWA—extends to the descendants of refugees on the basis of family unity. To blame UNRWA for the continuation of the Palestine refugee problem is, quite frankly, a baseless canard.
Second, the Palestine refugees are today facing their most difficult moment in history. Since October 7, 2023, Israel has killed or injured approximately a quarter of a million Palestinians through starvation and indiscriminate bombardment. The vast majority of them were Palestine refugees. A further two million Palestinians have been forcibly displaced by Israel.
In January 2024, the International Court of Justice determined that Israel is plausibly engaged in genocide in Gaza. Hundreds of UNRWA staff, together with their families, have been killed and injured while hundreds of UNRWA installations, including its headquarters in occupied East Jerusalem, have been unlawfully destroyed, damaged or commandeered by Israel.
The Secretary-General of the United Nations has described UNRWA as “the backbone of the United Nations humanitarian relief operations” in Gaza. Citing spurious allegations that upwards of 10% of UNRWA staff are terrorists, in October 2024, Israel passed legislation banning UNRWA operations in occupied Palestine. In October 2025, the International Court of Justice determined that Israel's allegations are wholly unsubstantiated, that its legislation is unlawful and that Israel is obliged to facilitate UNRWA operations in occupied Palestine. Israel, of course, refuses to do this.
It is therefore vital that Canada puts pressure on Israel to reverse course.
Finally, while UNRWA is vital to helping Palestine refugees, it must be said that no measure of support for agency operations can replace the need for a durable solution. It is often overlooked that Israel's decades-long ethnic cleansing of the Palestine refugees, its wholesale dispossession and usurpation of their property, its mass denationalization of that population and its denial of those refugees' right to return and to restitution constitute gross and systematic violations of international law, all of which have been documented by the United Nations for decades and continue to this very day.
Therefore, in addition to Canada's principled support for UNRWA's humanitarian operations, Ottawa must redouble its efforts to help find a durable solution to the Palestine refugee problem, including the implementation of their right to return, to restitution and to compensation in accordance with international law. Until such time as Canada does so, it must also immediately open its doors to Palestinian refugees fleeing the ravages in Gaza and elsewhere in the occupied Palestinian territory.
Thank you so very much, Mr. Chair. I look forward to questions.