Mr. Chair, I want to start my response by underlining something that is very important. Some people think the best thing to do is to take material goods, pack them together and send them to some of the organizations that are sending relief abroad. We want to underline the fact that is not helpful because of the expense of sending those goods. If anything, people could have a garage sale to raise some cash and donate that to the appropriate organizations. People of goodwill will want to do things in the way they see best fit, but we have to remind them that money is the way to do it. As my friend from Manitoba said, there are organizations that already have people on the ground, they have the infrastructure and they are ready to respond.
On that note, I mentioned that together.ca is one of the ways people can go online to donate. It is website of the Humanitarian Coalition, which is a couple of registered NGOs that have come together to put their resources together, a one-stop shop. UNICEF is doing great work. There are a number of organizations. I think the department has ways to access those organizations.
The other thing I want to mention is that this is an opportunity reach out to our fellow Canadians. I mentioned one of the events coming up in my riding. As parliamentarians, we should connect with our communities to find out what is going on, promote those activities and get people to connect with each other. It is very isolating if people have family members who are going through this crisis right now. They are alone and are trying to deal with it. This is a time when we, as Canadians and as members of Parliament showing leadership, donate personally, but also promote those opportunities for people to come together.
I remember well the earthquake in Haiti, its aftermath and some of the events that happened in my riding. People came together to raise funds and Haitian Canadian were there. It was enormous support, not just the money that was being raised, but also the solidarity and seeing people looking out for their community and their family members.
We know that the Filipino Canadian community has been helping to build the Philippines for many years through remittance. This is not new for them. It is just a matter of Canadians understanding it is our time to step up to do what many Filipino Canadians have been doing with remittances back home. Now is our chance to do it through to December 8 to show that we care as well. I encourage all Canadians to do this to show that we are with the people of the Philippines.