Foreign Affairs committee  Thanks for giving me a bit more time. I think that you're right. When I say “political will”, I really mean a strong signal from the federal government that this is a priority and that it is willing to move on it based on various...consensus, as you indicated. We know that memb

Foreign Affairs committee  I'm conscious of time as well, and can give you a very quick answer.

Foreign Affairs committee  Sure, but I can start by saying we have a hard time seeing anything but a lack of political will as a reason, because there's recommendation over recommendation. We realize that COVID set back some of the momentum in Canada, but as we look to 2021 and 2022, I have a hard time see

Foreign Affairs committee  Thank you. I think the one thing that Rowena talked about in terms of vaccines is the massive logistical challenge we face in many of these countries, and I think we'd be remiss if we didn't point to the massive public awareness effort that needs to go in parallel to that. We k

Foreign Affairs committee  Let me conclude, then, by taking things in a slightly different, albeit very much connected and relevant, direction: reducing the risk of children being exploited in global supply chains. COVID-19 is pushing millions of children into exploitive work as families' livelihoods eva

Foreign Affairs committee  Again, I hate to sound like a broken record, but around education there are similar concerns in camps and informal settlements. Presumably, the percentage of children who aren't going to school would be extremely high for various reasons. One is that in camps, in terms of the seq

Foreign Affairs committee  I'll make a similar comment as I made to Monsieur Trottier, and that is that we're facing a multitude of settings that present distinct challenges in terms of being able to provide services. As I said earlier around health, it's similar services, similar challenges, when it com

Foreign Affairs committee  Thank you very much for the question. As you've heard before, I think it's important to distinguish between the two general settings of where people have moved to: one is formal camps and the other is informal settlements. Those two situations present distinct health challenges.

Foreign Affairs committee  Canada in general is a humanitarian donor. Whenever Minister Paradis as well as past-minister Baird have appeared internationally, they are strong champions of the humanitarian principles. Our key concern is that you as parliamentarians look at the mission going forward and that

Foreign Affairs committee  As all three of us as well as Mr. Gignac have mentioned, the importance of humanitarian assistance is that it be delivered based on humanitarian principles as well as the humanitarian imperative. I think the key for parliamentarians, really, is that as we look into the immediate

Foreign Affairs committee  To make it very concrete, to World Vision as a child-focused organization, one of the things we're able to do in Jordan and in Lebanon is to work directly not so much with children but with adolescents, who we feel have a key stake in the future of Syria when they return, in orde

Foreign Affairs committee  As we articulated—and maybe we can elaborate on that in the next round—it's really to look at the various elements that need to be put in place for Iraq and Syria distinctly. What Canada can do very concretely is to look at the political dimension and to look at the military dime

Foreign Affairs committee  I think speaking from my experience last week and just placing.... I know that Mr. Garneau and Mr. Dewar were in Erbil late last year with then-minister Baird. Speaking about the context and the perceptions that one may have of a humanitarian emergency, on the logistical part, of

Foreign Affairs committee  Allow me to wrap up with a little bit of elaboration on the recommendations. As the Syrian crisis enters its fifth year now, it continues to have a regional impact, including the conflict we are now seeing in Iraq. The urgency for impartial, neutral, and independent humanitarian

Foreign Affairs committee  Thank you, Chair, and good morning. My name is Martin Fischer. I am the director of policy for World Vision Canada. I'll be sharing my time with my colleague Bart. We want to thank all the committee members for inviting us to participate in this important study on the situati