Prime Minister Mark Carney pledged $100 million in new aid for Palestinians at the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday, the same week a federal document tabled in the House of Commons revealed Ottawa has no plan to seek compensation for 170 Canadian-backed aid projects that Israeli military operations and settlers have destroyed, damaged or forced Palestinians to abandon.
Carney told the UN the pledge splits into $80 million in humanitarian aid and $20 million in development funding, including training for Palestinian police, and said it was meant to support “a two-state solution” as Palestinians face “immense human suffering” while Israelis confront “existential threats from Hamas and from Iran and its proxies,” according to CBC News. Canada has now pledged more than $600 million for Palestinian civilians since the war in Gaza began in October 2023.
Hours earlier and an ocean away, a very different accounting of that money landed in Ottawa. A parliamentary document tabled Monday and reported by The Canadian Press shows all 170 development and humanitarian projects examined in the West Bank, funded partly by Canada and other donor countries to the tune of at least $3.68 million, have been destroyed, damaged, confiscated or abandoned. The figures, drawn from the West Bank Protection Consortium, a coalition of aid organizations, list schools, water treatment plants, roads, solar panels, latrines, homes and a women’s shelter in Gaza damaged by arson and vandalism among the casualties, in communities including Umm al-Khair and Bazariya. Gaza’s toll is likely worse but remains incomplete because Israeli security restrictions limit access for verification, the document says.
The request came from NDP MP Heather McPherson, who represents Edmonton Strathcona and has pushed Global Affairs Canada for months for a full account of the damage. “We’re complicit and I just I can’t stand it,” McPherson said. “These are schools. These are water projects.” She called the destruction of water infrastructure a war crime and noted Ottawa has not even asked for its money back, unlike some other donor countries. “We’ve seen other countries ask for compensation for what was destroyed, and Canada is not even doing that,” she said.
The government’s own document acknowledges the gap. It states that decisions on whether to demand financial compensation from Israel, or to fund replacements for the demolished projects, remain “under consideration,” with no timeline given. For Gaza specifically, Ottawa says it does not even have cost estimates for the damage, citing security conditions and Israeli-imposed access restrictions. Global Affairs Canada also could not confirm Canadian funding tied to the so-called Canada Well, a water facility destroyed in July 2024, saying only that Israel has produced an internal investigation report the department is not permitted to release.
The disconnect matters for Canadians beyond the accounting ledger. A United Nations official overseeing water and sanitation in Gaza told reporters in July that Israeli restrictions have forced Canada to redirect aid dollars toward trucking in water rather than rebuilding the infrastructure that was destroyed in the first place, a cycle that inflates costs without replacing what was lost. With Carney now committing another $100 million and Parliament sitting for a fall session already crowded with fights over major-projects legislation and labour law, the unresolved question of accountability for the last $600 million may shape how closely MPs scrutinize the next payment, and whether Ottawa is willing to put a number on what has already been lost.
Via The Canadian Press (CP24) and CBC News. Read the original reports: Israeli military, settlers damage aid projects supported by Canada: parliamentary doc and Canada pledges $100M for Palestine at United Nations General Assembly.
