Citizenship and Immigration committee  Yes, indeed. The challenges that are posed by protracted conflict situations in particular have shown that the most effective approach is one that combines not just humanitarian assistance, or development assistance, or resettlement, or other durable solutions, but an integrated

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair, honourable members. My name is Heather Jeffrey and I'm the director general for international humanitarian assistance at Global Affairs Canada. I am pleased to return today to respond to any further questions about Canadian humanitarian assistance to supp

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Following the release of the report of the international commission of inquiry on the human rights violations and crimes perpetrated in Syria, Minister Dion made a statement in the House of Commons that acknowledged the commission of inquiry's findings. He declared that the atroc

Citizenship and Immigration committee  In terms of the humanitarian assistance responses, as I mentioned, we are a responsive program based on needs as they develop in real time. Since the beginning of the crisis in Iraq, we have allocated $140.9 million in international humanitarian assistance to respond to the nee

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Funding is allocated continually throughout the crisis. We respond through the consolidated appeals process on an annual basis, but we also respond as needs increase and the needs assessments change throughout the year. It's a continual disbursement of funds to the UN appeals a

Citizenship and Immigration committee  It was at the very beginning of the crisis, so it is ongoing and continuous. In 2015, $80 million in humanitarian assistance was disbursed, and we are continuing through 2016 with additional funding.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  I would just add that I think the integrated approach we're taking in response to the Iraq and Syria conflicts is a very innovative and really important development in the way we conduct our humanitarian and development assistance in particular. We're providing assistance across

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Mr. Chair and honourable members, thank you. I am pleased to be here today to speak to you about how Canada supports vulnerable groups in inaccessible regions. My name is Heather Jeffrey. I am the director general for international humanitarian assistance at Global Affairs Can

Foreign Affairs committee  Yes. In fact, the situation in the Central African Republic is one of great concern to us, and we're following it very closely. It's a very volatile situation. We are active there and are looking at our assistance for the coming year in the context of the UN consolidated appeals,

Foreign Affairs committee  From the perspective of our humanitarian assistance, first of all, especially when we're working in complex crises, such as the situations we see in Syria, Iraq, Yemen, and elsewhere, we work only with experienced and interested partners who have a track record of experience on t

Foreign Affairs committee  Yes, I can respond to that. We're in what is really an unprecedented situation in terms of the demands that we're seeing globally for humanitarian assistance. The figures have tripled since 2005. The UN consolidated appeals that were just launched for 2016 are requesting $30.5 b