OTTAWA —
International Development Minister Karina Gould says Canada will spend millions to help the world’s most desperate people fight COVID-19 because it is in the country’s long-term security interest as well as being the right thing to do.
Gould says that’s why Canada has earmarked $50 million, part of its response to today’s launch of the United Nations COVID-19 humanitarian response plan.
In an interview with The Canadian Press, Gould rebutted criticism in some quarters that the government ought to be focusing instead on Canadians hunkering down at home to limit the spread of the virus.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is set to launch a $2-billion global appeal today, calling for a co-ordinated response to help the world’s war-torn, displaced and otherwise most destitute people who are facing new misery because of the pandemic.
Guterres has sent a letter to the G20 members, including Canada, urging them to spend more to prevent the virus from spreading like wildfire in developing countries burdened by poor health systems and massive refugee influxes.
Gould says the government needs to help Canadians at home with an $82-billion spending package, but it must also spend $50 million globally to protect Canada’s future security and economic prosperity from a virus that knows no borders.
“The world is connected … Whatever happens over there, far away, is something that can very easily come to our doorstep.”
Last week, Conservative leadership candidate Erin O’Toole criticized the government for the overseas spending, saying on Twitter: “Foreign aid can wait. Right now, the Trudeau government should prioritize Canadians.”
Gould didn’t mention O’Toole by name, but she addressed the underlying sentiment of his tweet.
“Canada absolutely has to protect our own citizens, but part of protecting our own citizens is being part of that global response,” she said.
“It’s a bit of an enlightened self-interest,” Gould added. “We absolutely need to be thinking about the world’s poorest and most vulnerable because if we’re not thinking about them, we’re also putting ourselves at risk.”
The government has earmarked $8 million of the $50 million spending package to groups such as the World Health Organization, the International Committee of the Red Cross and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to help them fight the pandemic.
Gould said she is speaking with numerous UN agencies and other international organizations to target where the rest of the money should be spent.
There is no shortage of options, including from the world’s largest refugee camp in Bangladesh where 700,000 Rohingya exiles from Myanmar are crammed into squalid conditions and where preventative hand-washing and social distancing are next to impossible. There are also overcrowded refugee camps on Greek islands and in the Democratic Republic of Congo, not to mention armed conflicts in Somalia, South Sudan, Syria and Yemen.
One key message Gould is hearing is that there can be no backsliding in current aid spending. Otherwise, the world could face outbreaks of diseases that have already been contained such as polio, tuberculosis and malaria. She also doesn’t want to see money diverted away from helping improve the sexual and reproductive health of girls and women.
Gould noted that while the Ebola outbreak of six years ago killed 3,000 people in Congo, another 6,000 children died from a measles outbreak that couldn’t be contained at the same time.
Gould said she’s stressing the need for “a fierce commitment” to preserving development and humanitarian programs in all her international conversations.
“If we were to take a step back from those, the collateral damage and the generation of children that could be left behind because of this is even greater than the risk that we face with COVID.”
Gould said she’s worried about how isolation and quarantine measures can lead to an increase in domestic and gender-based violence.
Rema Jamous Imseis, the UN refugee agency’s Canadian representative, said Gould spoke with her organization’s High Commissioner Filippo Grandi Tuesday about doing more for the Rohingya in Bangladesh, and the need to scale up responses to sexual and gender-based violence.
“Canada has already done quite a bit and we hope to see more coming from them when the appeal is launched,” she said in an interview.
“We know that no matter what measures you take here, nationally, to prevent the spread of the virus, as long as you have situations around the world with weak health systems and an inability to cope with the demands that are placed on them with this pandemic, the virus knows no boundaries.”
David Morley, the president of UNICEF Canada, said millions of uprooted children in war zones are dying from preventable causes or not getting essential vaccines.
“With COVID-19 cases hitting Syria and Gaza, it is only a matter of time before we see the spread throughout refugee camps and these vulnerable populations,” Morley said.
UNICEF is concerned about the plight of refugee children on the Greek islands, where there are more than 41,000 refugees, including 13,000 children. A reception centre designed to hold 3,000 people has now swelled to 20,000, he said.
Though European borders are shut, Morley said UNICEF is stepping up its call to try to relocate children to Germany, Finland and other countries that have committed to take them.
“People in developing contexts care for their family members just like we do here,” said Michael Messenger, the president of World Vision Canada. “We can focus both on responses here at home, as well the world’s most vulnerable. That’s the Canadian way.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 25, 2020.
VANCOUVER – Contract negotiations resume today in Vancouver in a labour dispute that has paralyzed container cargo shipping at British Columbia’s ports since Monday.
The BC Maritime Employers Association and International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 514 are scheduled to meet for the next three days in mediated talks to try to break a deadlock in negotiations.
The union, which represents more than 700 longshore supervisors at ports, including Vancouver, Prince Rupert and Nanaimo, has been without a contract since March last year.
The latest talks come after employers locked out workers in response to what it said was “strike activity” by union members.
The start of the lockout was then followed by several days of no engagement between the two parties, prompting federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon to speak with leaders on both sides, asking them to restart talks.
MacKinnon had said that the talks were “progressing at an insufficient pace, indicating a concerning absence of urgency from the parties involved” — a sentiment echoed by several business groups across Canada.
In a joint letter, more than 100 organizations, including the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, Business Council of Canada and associations representing industries from automotive and fertilizer to retail and mining, urged the government to do whatever it takes to end the work stoppage.
“While we acknowledge efforts to continue with mediation, parties have not been able to come to a negotiated agreement,” the letter says. “So, the federal government must take decisive action, using every tool at its disposal to resolve this dispute and limit the damage caused by this disruption.
“We simply cannot afford to once again put Canadian businesses at risk, which in turn puts Canadian livelihoods at risk.”
In the meantime, the union says it has filed a complaint to the Canada Industrial Relations Board against the employers, alleging the association threatened to pull existing conditions out of the last contract in direct contact with its members.
“The BCMEA is trying to undermine the union by attempting to turn members against its democratically elected leadership and bargaining committee — despite the fact that the BCMEA knows full well we received a 96 per cent mandate to take job action if needed,” union president Frank Morena said in a statement.
The employers have responded by calling the complaint “another meritless claim,” adding the final offer to the union that includes a 19.2 per cent wage increase over a four-year term remains on the table.
“The final offer has been on the table for over a week and represents a fair and balanced proposal for employees, and if accepted would end this dispute,” the employers’ statement says. “The offer does not require any concessions from the union.”
The union says the offer does not address the key issue of staffing requirement at the terminals as the port introduces more automation to cargo loading and unloading, which could potentially require fewer workers to operate than older systems.
The Port of Vancouver is the largest in Canada and has seen a number of labour disruptions, including two instances involving the rail and grain storage sectors earlier this year.
A 13-day strike by another group of workers at the port last year resulted in the disruption of a significant amount of shipping and trade.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
The Royal Canadian Legion says a new partnership with e-commerce giant Amazon is helping boost its veterans’ fund, and will hopefully expand its donor base in the digital world.
Since the Oct. 25 launch of its Amazon.ca storefront, the legion says it has received nearly 10,000 orders for poppies.
Online shoppers can order lapel poppies on Amazon in exchange for donations or buy items such as “We Remember” lawn signs, Remembrance Day pins and other accessories, with all proceeds going to the legion’s Poppy Trust Fund for Canadian veterans and their families.
Nujma Bond, the legion’s national spokesperson, said the organization sees this move as keeping up with modern purchasing habits.
“As the world around us evolves we have been looking at different ways to distribute poppies and to make it easier for people to access them,” she said in an interview.
“This is definitely a way to reach a wider number of Canadians of all ages. And certainly younger Canadians are much more active on the web, on social media in general, so we’re also engaging in that way.”
Al Plume, a member of a legion branch in Trenton, Ont., said the online store can also help with outreach to veterans who are far from home.
“For veterans that are overseas and are away, (or) can’t get to a store they can order them online, it’s Amazon.” Plume said.
Plume spent 35 years in the military with the Royal Engineers, and retired eight years ago. He said making sure veterans are looked after is his passion.
“I’ve seen the struggles that our veterans have had with Veterans Affairs … and that’s why I got involved, with making sure that the people get to them and help the veterans with their paperwork.”
But the message about the Amazon storefront didn’t appear to reach all of the legion’s locations, with volunteers at Branch 179 on Vancouver’s Commercial Drive saying they hadn’t heard about the online push.
Holly Paddon, the branch’s poppy campaign co-ordinator and bartender, said the Amazon partnership never came up in meetings with other legion volunteers and officials.
“I work at the legion, I work with the Vancouver poppy office and I go to the meetings for the Vancouver poppy campaign — which includes all the legions in Vancouver — and not once has this been mentioned,” she said.
Paddon said the initiative is a great idea, but she would like to have known more about it.
The legion also sells a larger collection of items at poppystore.ca.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
