OTTAWA – The next phase of Canada’s engagement in the global effort to root out Islamic militants will be unveiled within days and will include new aid funding, the federal international development minister said Thursday.
That was Marie-Claude Bibeau’s rationale for holding back on contributing new money at an international donors meeting in London that saw $10 billion committed between now and 2020 to help the victims of Syria’s civil war.
“We will be making our announcement in Canada with Prime Minister (Justin) Trudeau, the minister of external affairs and the minister of national defence in a couple of days or so,” Bibeau told a conference call.
“Canada will remain a significant donor in terms of humanitarian assistance, and we will increase our contribution for development and resilience projects.”
Bibeau said it’s important for the government to announce a holistic approach that incorporates all of the military, diplomatic and humanitarian contributions.
Canada took a similar approach during the war in Afghanistan.
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An evaluation of that $2-billion aid program by the former Canadian International Development Agency later found that “the ‘blurring’ of lines related to the politicization and militarization of humanitarian assistance” caused limitations on where humanitarian agencies could operate, among other problems.
Access for aid agencies is one the key challenges within Syria at present.
“We learned from our past experience,” Bibeau said of what lessons could be drawn from Afghanistan, but she declined to discuss it further until the formal announcement is made.
To date, Canada has committed $650 million in humanitarian aid for people affected by the Syrian civil war and $233 million for longer-term development.
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By the numbers: Canada’s contribution to Syria
11 million: number of people displaced by the Syrian civil war.
4.59 million: Syrians registered as refugees by the United Nations.
$9 billion US: dollars the UN and regional countries say they’ll need in 2016 alone to deal with humanitarian needs.
$6 billion US: dollars pledged for 2016 by countries attending Thursday’s meeting in London.
$653.5 million: dollars the Canadian government has contributed in humanitarian assistance since 2012.
$233 million: dollars the Canadian government has contributed to support longer-term development projects.
$100 million: maximum amount the government will match in private donations to the Syrian Relief Fund by the end of February.
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Refugees straining current systems
In addition to the urgent humanitarian needs in Syria, the surrounding countries are struggling to deal with the influx of millions of refugees putting pressure on everything from schools to sewers.
In London on Thursday, Jordan’s King Abdullah said his country could not sustain unaided the burden of what he said was almost 1.3 million Syrian refugees – one-fifth of Jordan’s population.
The Jordanian figure includes all Syrians in the country, even those who came before 2011; the UN refugee agency says it has registered 630,000 Syrian refugees in Jordan.
“We are doing our best against very difficult odds,” the king said, but added: “We have reached our limit.”
“Our country will continue to do what we can do to help those in need, but it cannot be at the expense of our own people’s welfare.”
Nicolas Moyer, executive director of the Humanitarian Coalition, a group of five Canadian agencies, said he’s confident the Canadian government will do more. But he said Canadians must as well.
“The reality is we are not able to fundraise … for the Syrian crisis as much as we would like,” Moyer said. “The need far outstrips the donations coming in, the access to resources that we have from all sources.”
The government is matching donations from Canadians until the end of this month. The fund – announced by the previous Conservative government – was supposed to expire in December but was extended.
That didn’t trigger an influx of new cash because of several factors, said Moyer, including the nature of the conflict, the domestic response to the Syrian refugee crisis and the work of humanitarian agencies themselves.
“Humanitarian organizations in Canada have solicited their donor bases and those have responded in a very strong way, but after five years of engaging our constituencies and asking them for more, it’s not surprising that there is, across the country, a certain apathy to the topic,” he said.
“We need to be looking at working more closely together at options to engage the public in different ways.”
– with files from The Associated Press
SOURCE: Global Affairs Canada, UNHCR, World Food Programme, The Associated Press.
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