Ottawa announces Syrian emergency relief fund of up to $100 million

OTTAWA – Canada will be supplying additional humanitarian assistance for victims of the conflict in Syria.

International Development Minister Christian Paradis on Saturday announced that the federal government will match “eligible” Canadian donations up to $100 million under the Syrian Emergency Relief Fund.

That’s in addition to $503.5 million in humanitarian assistance funding Canada has already allocated for humanitarian efforts in Syria and neighbouring countries since the beginning of Syria’s civil war.

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Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne commended the federal move Saturday while announcing her province is pledging $10.5 million to help more refugees settle in Ontario and support international relief efforts.

Wynne says $8.5 million over 2 1/2 years will go to support refugees, increase the number coming to Ontario, and help settle them once they arrive, while the remaining $2 million will be donated for humanitarian efforts.

Kathleen Wynne: There’s more we can be doing to help Syrian refugees

0:25 Kathleen Wynne: There’s more we can be doing to help Syrian refugees

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Canadians have flooded the United Nations children’s agency with an outpouring of cash in the week since the image of a dead Syrian boy on a Turkish beach shocked the world on Sept. 2.

Four million people have fled Syria since the conflict broke out in 2011 and while their plight has captured headlines over time, it wasn’t until that photograph that Canadians coalesced around the need for action.

The government says Canadian aid has already helped provide relief items to more than 3.25 million people in Syria, food assistance to 4.16 million people inside Syria, and clean water to 16.5 million people in Syria.