Mr. Speaker, February 2 to 8 is International Development Week 2003. The theme of this week is “Celebrating Canadians Making a Difference in the World”.
Today the Minister for International Cooperation marked International Development Week by presenting the Bill McWhinney Award of Excellence to the Prince Edward Island chapter of Farmers Helping Farmers.
This group brings together 50 Canadian volunteers who work together with farmers from Kenya and Tanzania to improve the rural economies in those countries. Their work and the work of many other Canadians deserves our recognition because, for more than 50 years, they have been supporting the development of the most disadvantaged countries and communities in the world.
I invite all Canadians to take advantage of International Development Week to learn more about the life of people who live in developing nations and to applaud Canadians who work to make our world safer, fairer and more prosperous.