National Defence Committee on Nov. 23rd, 2020

[Conrad Sauvé]

It depends on where. First of all, several things have been done in Quebec. I'd like to highlight the great collaboration with the Quebec ministry of health and services and the CIUSSSs.

In Quebec, we deployed personnel to replace military personnel in long-term care facilities, but we also helped train more than 7,000 employees of the ministry of health and social services. As a result, this ministry has increased its capacity to intervene in long-term care facilities.

We have the personnel to support the Quebec government in the current context. We have kept 500 employees available. At this point, I can't predict the future, but I can say that our capacity is quite good. We are in discussions with other provinces to increase capacity and provide the same kind of assistance.

[Yves Robillard, Liberal, Marc-Aurèle-Fortin, QC]

Thank you.

With Operation Globe, Canada responded to a UN request for assistance in transporting food and medical equipment related to the World Food Programme and the World Health Organization.

What do you think of Canada's assistance during the pandemic?

[Amir Abdulla]

Thank you very much.

I think for the Operation Globe, the specific contribution there came at a very critical time when we had health equipment, primarily from WHO but also from PAHO, the Pan-American Health Organization, that we were having great difficulty moving. Without the Royal Canadian Air Force equipment, that health equipment probably would have been delayed by at least two, three weeks or a month. At that point of the crisis, that three weeks to a month delay would have cost a significant number of lives, so the contribution was clearly a life-saving element.

Canada has also been a strong supporter of WFP on our food security operation. The contributions of Canada have been focused very much on our school meal programs that have a strong nutritional impact, but also focus very much on girls' education.

I have often said to those who support these programs that the single contribution is working on nutrition, education and gender. With one contribution you're empowering girls to go on to become empowered women who, themselves, will have more productive and better families. They will be in a better nutritional status, and they are better educated.

I think those types of programs are a cornerstone of Canada's contribution, and although they may not be directly on COVID, they certainly would have made people who were in COVID-impacted areas more resilient to the coming crisis.

I think overall we are very appreciative of Canada's contribution, and we think it's very much a quality contribution as well. It's not always just about the size of the contribution; it's about the quality of the contribution, and Canada has always been a high-quality donor.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Karen McCrimmon]

The floor is yours, Mr. Brunelle-Duceppe.

[Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe, Bloc, Lac-Saint-Jean, QC]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

My questions are for Mr. Sauvé or Mr. Tizi.

Let me know which one of you would be best placed to answer.

I'd like to understand the mechanics or, at least some details, of the Red Cross's intervention in a situation like this, which has affected us all. In fact, you were affected too, you paid for it and you did it very well.

Was it the Canadian Armed Forces that gave you the financial resources to pay for Red Cross volunteers to take over from the military?

[Conrad Sauvé]

No, the funds actually come from different places. We already have agreements with the provinces. For example, in some cases, the Quebec government has hired us to do activities. In the specific case of the Red Cross taking over for the military, the funds come from the federal government.

[Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe, Bloc, Lac-Saint-Jean, QC]

Okay.

I know that initially, a wage of $26 an hour was discussed. In the end, how much did the Red Cross pay its volunteers?

Do you know?

[Conrad Sauvé]

Yes.

In fact, there's a difference. Here, we deployed employees, not necessarily volunteers. I could give you the final amount.

Our goal wasn't to recruit people to stay permanently in the health care system. So there was a difference between our goal and that of the Quebec government. The Government of Quebec conducted a recruitment campaign to find 10,000 more workers in this sector. We had a recruitment campaign to find people who wanted to intervene temporarily—

[Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe, Bloc, Lac-Saint-Jean, QC]

Temporarily.

[Conrad Sauvé]

—in the emergency phase. So it has nothing to do with the permanent health care system.

[Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe, Bloc, Lac-Saint-Jean, QC]

Absolutely. I understand the process very well.

Did these people perform the same duties as the employees already on site?

[Conrad Sauvé]

The objective was twofold. We had two types of teams. One was an infection control team, which was a very practical component, to support the institution and help them to tighten up their controls. The other team, which wasn't specialized, was there to help with any administrative and support tasks. It wasn't to replace the specialized area or the people trained in that area, but rather to provide general assistance, whether it was in managing the reception area or all sorts of other very general tasks.

[Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe, Bloc, Lac-Saint-Jean, QC]

In your speech, I believe you talked about six weeks of training.

Is that correct?

[Conrad Sauvé]

No. I said that it took six weeks to recruit and train 1,000 people.

[Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe, Bloc, Lac-Saint-Jean, QC]

Okay, it was to recruit and train people.

What did the training entail exactly?

[Conrad Sauvé]

It was general training to show how to help in a situation. In other words, the training covered general work and all instructions regarding protection, wearing PPE, and so forth.

[Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe, Bloc, Lac-Saint-Jean, QC]

You worked very diligently. I commend you for that.

[Conrad Sauvé]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Karen McCrimmon]

Next is Mr. Garrison, please.

[Randall Garrison, NDP, Esquimalt—Saanich—Sooke, BC]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

I want to follow up with additional questions to the Red Cross, but first thank them of course for the enormous assistance they provided on very short notice. Can you talk a little bit about the transition between the Canadian Forces and the Red Cross moving in with volunteers, and how that proceeded, and how well you think that functioned?

[Conrad Sauvé]

I think it went very well. First of all, I want to thank the Canadian Armed Forces. They really collaborated in terms of transferring all of the information. What was critical as well, and I think the most important to highlight, is that we worked very closely with the health and social services ministry of the Quebec government, because at the end of the day they're working with the institutions, knowing which ones needed our help. That was a daily co-ordination work. The transition went well. We are still present, I think, in 11 long-term care institutions, supporting the Quebec government there, and we've kept 1,500 people. These are not volunteers. As I was saying earlier, we recruited paid staff for this because it's an engagement of months in terms of the work that's required.

[Randall Garrison, NDP, Esquimalt—Saanich—Sooke, BC]

In terms of the 11 institutions where you're still providing assistance, is there a plan in place to phase out the Red Cross assistance? How long do you expect to be in those institutions?

[Conrad Sauvé]

Again, this is supporting the Quebec government. I think we've extended our presence until March in these institutions or others, wherever there may be an overlap or a challenge. As I said, we are growing the support in Ontario and in Manitoba. In Manitoba we're in five long-term care institutions. On the same model, basically we are there to provide epidemic control and surge in institutions that could be overwhelmed.

[Randall Garrison, NDP, Esquimalt—Saanich—Sooke, BC]

Thank you.

I know my time is very short. I want to go back to Mr. Abdulla from the World Food Programme and talk about which areas, regions or countries he thinks are most at risk in the next few months with the convergence of food shortages and the COVID crisis.

[Amir Abdulla]

Probably the most pressing country of concern at the moment is Yemen, where we have serious issues of access. We have actually had good news over the past few weeks where we've had some improved access. De facto authorities in Sana'a have actually started to allow us to do better targeting registration, including biometric registration, so we have a better sense that the assistance is getting to the people who are most in need.

When you have these difficult access and conflict countries where monitoring is not always the easiest, you really do need to have a very robust registration system. That has improved over the past few weeks. We had been facing some serious difficulties in that regard.

There's Yemen, where we have had, potentially, pockets of famine. Right behind Yemen has to come South Sudan, parts of northeast Nigeria and then across areas of the Sahel, including Mali, Niger and potentially Burkina Faso. They are, again, very heavily impacted by the climate and conflict paradigm. South Sudan has definitely been in the conflict and climate-related areas.

Those would be the countries of highest concern.