Foreign Affairs committee  You don't ask easy questions. The West Bank and Gaza, and the Middle East generally, are very difficult places to work, as we've said before. There are several channels by which we provide and have provided assistance to Palestinians, including UNRWA, and in the past the World F

Foreign Affairs committee  My apologies, but I'm going to answer in English seeing as it's a bit complicated for me. The sanctions with regard to Russia, particularly in accordance with our position on Ukraine, are continually reviewed and updated as we move forward. The last update, I guess, was back in

Foreign Affairs committee  It's not a term that I have seen used at this time.

Foreign Affairs committee  The government?

Foreign Affairs committee  I was thinking—

Foreign Affairs committee  I think Ms. Fountain Smith is very correct; I think we should come back to you with regard to that question.

Foreign Affairs committee  I would only reassure the member that a major part of our work at the department is creating jobs for Canadians. Through our trade and investment programs, there are multiples of the 5,000 you're speaking to, sir. Through our work and through our embassies abroad, we are promotin

Foreign Affairs committee  I believe that our Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement trade negotiator, Mr. Steve Verheul, addressed the international trade committee this morning. I think he would have brought your colleagues up to date on negotiations. The investor state dispute is, we hope, a final

Foreign Affairs committee  Mr. Kent, those initiatives are ongoing. They are exactly the sectors in which we continue to do justice and economic growth programming in the West Bank and Gaza. I think we've expended around $15 million in the past year, and upward of $27 million with regard to the efforts to

Foreign Affairs committee  From a development perspective, the area that I'm responsible for is a rather complex area. There are many actors. We take this very seriously and do a lot of due diligence. There are many different levels of control and evaluation. One, of course, would be the partnerships we

Foreign Affairs committee  Thank you very much. Yes, we have a rather long and rocky history of relations with Iran. We've experienced some of the difficulties you've mentioned, Mr. Kent. We're quite aware of the recent sacking of the Saudi Arabian embassy. A statement has been made in that regard. I th

Foreign Affairs committee  Thank you very much for that question. As I said in my opening statement, we continue to be extremely concerned by the human rights situation—or the lack of it, I should say—in Iran and the abuse with regard to freedom of organization, freedom of speech, and women's rights. We

Foreign Affairs committee  That is correct. Iran is still listed as a state sponsor of terrorism and the Quds, or the Revolutionary Guard, is still considered a terrorist organization under our Criminal Code. Any dealings with that organization would be culpable.

Foreign Affairs committee  Thank you very much. We are very aware of Amnesty International's latest report and we are very concerned. The embassy has already issued statements to the Government of Iraq as well as Kurdistan's two regional governments indicating that they have a great responsibility to prot

Foreign Affairs committee  We've had to be discreet in commenting publicly on Brexit. I think privately we feel very strongly that we would like to see the U.K. continue as a member of the European Union, if only because it is such a strong ally and partner, and the EU is such an important global actor tha