Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Yes, that's absolutely true. As far as Afghanistan is concerned, promises have been made to support these people in exile, but it's not enough. They have not only helped their country, but they've also worked with Canada on democracy and human rights initiatives. Too little has

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  The way Canada basically funds programming where there's humanitarian development needs a major shift and rethink. It's not only about carving out exceptions in certain conflict situations. It's that our aid is so compartmentalized. I'll give you one example. We've received mone

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  I can provide a very brief answer to your question. Thank you for the question, it's a really important one. The problem is getting worse and worse. We're going to see more and more conflict in the countries where we're trying to provide humanitarian aid. This is not an excepti

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  I'd be hard pressed to comment specifically on the benefits of having an embassy. I would instead go back to what I said earlier about connecting with communities in exile, to obtain intelligence, and connecting with communities in the actual countries. Canada has a role to play

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Thanks, Ketty. I totally agree. I think we need to be aware that the attacks against the most marginalized communities and human rights defenders are usually a canary in the coal mine that indicates a broader crackdown on democratic space and on civic space. Right now, for exam

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Thank you for the question. There are a couple of things. One is that the way we spend our money is just as important as how much we spend. The way we spend money needs to be in line with the feminist international assistance policy. We can't support feminist programming in way

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Thanks for the opportunity. Maybe, if you don't mind, I would start, also, by following up on what Ketty just said on human rights defenders. There are three things I want to add. One is this issue of having to have left the country. That's a major barrier and something we have

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Thank you. Thank you very much for inviting us at Oxfam to appear before the subcommittee. It's fantastic to be appearing with Ketty and the analysis of amnesty. My name is Lauren Ravon. I'm the executive director of Oxfam Canada. I'm here with my colleague, Léa Pelletier-Marco

Foreign Affairs committee  Oxfam America works very closely with organizations across the country in the United States. They have seen that the biggest impact has been on marginalized communities. Black women in particular have seen a harder access to abortion. There's a direct correlation between poverty

Foreign Affairs committee  If it is not, ultimately we're going to see a backslide. If we invest only in repeated humanitarian crises, we're not investing in long-term resilience building, whether it's health systems, women's education, movement building or civil society. We're going to be in a yo-yo effec

Foreign Affairs committee  Sure. Maybe I can respond in two points. One is that an organization like Oxfam does not make decisions here in Ottawa and then tell local communities what to do. All of our work is with local partners and communities. We work with women's rights organizations in countries like

Foreign Affairs committee  A lot of our work is precisely on behaviour, norm, attitude and belief change with local organizations. I can give you an example of Bangladesh, where the partners we work with have developed a very popular television series that talks about women's role in the household, gender

Foreign Affairs committee  Sure. I'm happy to speak about the accountability report. First, I'd say the commitment that was made was historic. It was fantastic, and now it's a matter of getting it right. Also, the commitment to having this accountability reporting is a wonderful thing, not only because w

Foreign Affairs committee  We're asking for more funding, in particular because we're facing a situation that we didn't have in the past, where we have development challenges, but then we have major climate emergencies and then humanitarian crises, so it's making our work more expensive and more difficult.

Foreign Affairs committee  I just want to recognize that we have seen changes in the way Canadian aid gets delivered. We're not talking so much about two- or three-year projects anymore. We now have five- or seven-year project timelines, so that's important progress. What we'd like to see is more continu