The Canada Aid Sector is preparing for cataclysmic suffering worldwide and asks Ottawa to help fill the gaps while Washington ends the American agency for international development.
Many Canadian projects are in limbo, as the world’s largest aid fund is freezing the financing of multilateral programs, and it is not clear what will happen to millions of dollars that Ottawa had sent to the ‘USAID for programming.
Cooperation of the Aid Canada coalition indicates that millions of people are suddenly cut off rescue supplies.
“The impact of this is catastrophic, for thousands and probably millions of people worldwide,” said the head of the Kate Higgins group. “This forces Canada and Canadians to think about the type of country we want to be.”
US President Donald Trump instructed billionaire Ally Elon Musk to reduce the American budget. The exercise involved a 90 -day freeze on most American foreign aid, pending an examination to guarantee that spending align with American interests. Thousands of staff members have been on paid leave, although the courts examine these orders.
Several reports have contradicted the claims of the American Secretary of State Marco Rubio that most of the rescue programs of this agency abroad still operate by derogations.
Last Friday, the Associated Press reported examples, such as $ 450 million in food cultivated by American farmers – sufficient to feed 36 million people – who had not been paid and therefore not delivered. Some 1.6 million people moved by war in the Darfur region of Sudan are cut off from the funds necessary to operate the water pumps in the desert.
Get daily national news
Get the best news of the day, the titles of political, economic and current affairs, delivered in your reception box once a day.
Cooperation Canada represents dozens of Canadian non -profit organizations working in international development and humanitarian assistance, many of which manage projects that contain systems exploited by USAID, or United Nations agencies that have American funding important.
“Many of them will have to close,” said Higgins about Canadian programs.
This includes emergency medicine, basic education and hunger help. This lets organizations try to rethink their programs and work with organizations from other countries to try to fill the gaps.
Higgins said Global Affairs Canada was in contact with the aid sector to help manage disturbances, but things are already collapsing.
“The critical partners, who are part of the implementation of these projects, close their doors,” she said.
In addition, Global Affairs Canada’s data displayed a total of $ 40 million in development projects listed as currently operational that Ottawa had financed USAID to execute. The projects included the adaptation of climate change in the Peruvian watersheds and a fund which helps the militants LGBTQ + fleeing violence.
Global Affairs Canada has not provided the status of each project, including the amount of Canadian financing allocated to USAID has not yet been spent.
“World Affairs Canada assess the situation following changes in American foreign aid,” said spokesman Louis-Carl Brissette Lesage. “No other decision has been made at the moment, and we will have more to say as the situation is evolving.”
USAID did not respond to a request for comments sent by e-mail.
The office of the international Minister of Development Ahmed Hussen wrote in a statement that Ottawa is “deeply concerned” after decades of partnership with USAID.
“The loss of USAID leadership and resources represents a dangerous retirement that risks decades of progress in the fight against inequalities, famine, pandemics and authoritarianism,” wrote spokesperson Olivia Batten.
“Global challenges require collective action, and we will continue to do our part by forging new partnerships that support peace, security and prosperity for all.”
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mélanie Joly, said last Friday that she “definitively” planned to discuss the USAID this week with Rubio, who supervised the agency provisionally.
The two should meet at the G7 foreign ministers’ meeting that Joly will be chaired in Germany, occurring alongside the Munich Security Conference.
Higgins said it was “essential” that Canada is taking advantage of this opportunity “to show leadership at this very destabilizing moment in world history”.
Joly told the Halifax Chamber of Commerce that the American withdrawal from foreign aid will only give more adversaries to influence the world in development.
“I have my own opinions on what the American administration does with American aid, but I will keep these opinions for me, for obvious reasons,” she said last Friday.
“When we create a void, only China and Russia can benefit from it.”
Higgins said that she hoped that Canadians will live up to their reputation as a country of compassion “which understands that what is happening in other countries has direct implications for our own security and prosperity”.
& Copy 2025 the Canadian press
