THE STANDING SENATE COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS AND INTERNATIONAL TRADE
EVIDENCE
OTTAWA, Wednesday, October 8, 2025
The Standing Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade met with videoconference this day at 4:15 p.m. [ET] to examine and report on such issues as may arise from time to time relating to foreign relations and international trade generally.
Senator Peter Harder (Deputy Chair) in the chair.
[English]
The Deputy Chair: Welcome. My name is Peter Harder, I am the deputy chair of this committee and a senator from Ontario. I wish to invite members of the committee to introduce themselves to the witnesses and to the broader television viewing audience.
Senator Adler: Charles Adler, Manitoba.
[Translation]
Senator Gerba: Amina Gerba from Quebec.
[English]
Senator MacDonald: Michael MacDonald from Cape Breton, Nova Scotia.
Senator Ravalia: Welcome. Mohamed Ravalia from Newfoundland and Labrador.
Senator Ataullahjan: Salma Ataullahjan, Ontario.
Senator Woo: Yuen Pau Woo, British Columbia.
Senator Wilson: Good afternoon. Duncan Wilson, British Columbia.
Senator Al Zaibak: Mohammad Al Zaibak, Toronto, Ontario.
Senator Coyle: Mary Coyle, Antigonish, Nova Scotia.
Senator Dean: Tony Dean, representing Ontario.
[Translation]
Senator Hébert: Martine Hébert from the Victoria district of Quebec.
[English]
The Deputy Chair: I would like to welcome our audience who might be listening, and I would like to remind us all to observe the advice being given for the handling of our microphones.
We are meeting today under our general reference to discuss the humanitarian situation in Gaza. Today, we have the pleasure in our first panel of hearing from officials from Global Affairs Canada. I would like to welcome back Tara Carney, Acting Director General, Humanitarian Assistance Bureau; and for her first time in this role, Stefanie McCollum, Director General, Middle East Bureau. Ms. McCollum comes to us having just finished her stint as our ambassador in Lebanon, so she is quite familiar with some of the issues that we will be dealing with.
I want to thank you both for taking the time to come before us today. We look forward to hearing your opening statements. Ms. Carney the floor is yours.
Tara Carney, Acting Director General, Humanitarian Assistance Bureau, Global Affairs Canada: Mr. Chair and members of the committee, thank you for the invitation to provide an update on the humanitarian situation in Gaza.
[Translation]
Let me begin by acknowledging the significant developments over recent days. Canada welcomes the comprehensive peace plan to end the conflict in Gaza as a viable path for lasting peace, for securing the release of all hostages, and for ensuring humanitarian assistance enters Gaza immediately and at scale. Crucial negotiations on this plan are currently under way in Egypt.
[English]
We commend the United States, Qatar, Egypt and Türkiye for their tireless efforts in mediating these negotiations. Our government will continue to support these efforts and will intensify our coordination with international partners to see the full potential of the peace plan realized.
That said, today, the humanitarian situation in Gaza is unconscionable. The conflict has resulted in tens of thousands of civilian deaths, injured over 170,000 individuals and displaced nearly two million people, many of them multiple times. To be forcibly displaced from everything familiar is shattering to a person; to be displaced again and again is a trauma most of us can’t even fathom.
More than half a million people are facing catastrophic levels of hunger, and famine conditions are expected to spread even more widely.
In recent months, we have witnessed repeated mass-casualty incidents as civilians, including children, risk their lives in search of food and water. Just today, UNICEF reported that there are 64,000 children who have been killed or maimed by this conflict. Gaza has the highest number of child amputees per capita worldwide. Between June and July, the Red Cross field hospital in Gaza, which Canada supports, responded to over 13 mass-casualty incidents, treating over 12,500 patients. Survivors are suffering from complex, life-altering injuries that cannot be adequately treated due to shortages of medical supplies and equipment.
The destruction of essential infrastructure, including roads, hospitals, schools and countless homes, is extensive and will take years to rebuild. The civilian population is living in overcrowded shelters where access to clean water is critically limited. Equally concerning is the psychological toll this conflict is taking, particularly on children.
Since the onset of the conflict, more than 550 aid workers and 1,500 medical personnel have been killed, most of them local. This is the highest death toll for humanitarian workers in any conflict in modern history. Canada honours their sacrifice and remains committed to supporting their life-saving work.
Beyond Gaza, the humanitarian situation in the West Bank has also deteriorated. Humanitarian access remains restricted and obstructed, with over 1,000 checkpoints, rising settler violence and escalating military operations. Additionally, Palestinians are increasingly subjected to forced displacement and land seizures in the West Bank.
Despite active conflict and severe access constraints, humanitarian workers have demonstrated extraordinary courage and commitment in continuing to provide life-saving assistance day after day. For example, in September, the World Food Program facilitated the delivery of over 650,000 meals, and UNICEF reached over 5,000 malnourished children with emergency assistance.
While the news of the political ceasefire gives us hope for the path ahead, there is more work to be done. Regardless of the ceasefire, under international human rights law, all parties to the conflict are obligated to facilitate the unimpeded passage of aid and to protect civilians. Currently, restrictions imposed by Israel, including complex NGO registration requirements, visa renewals and deconfliction mechanisms, severely curtail the ability of partners to operate. There are millions of dollars’ worth of pre‑positioned supplies, including food, water and medicine, awaiting clearance at border crossings. Canada’s UN, NGO, and Red Cross and Red Crescent partners have the capacity to rapidly scale up when conditions allow. We saw that during the last ceasefire.
[Translation]
Committee members, we will continue to work with our partners to ensure that the large-scale delivery of humanitarian aid into and throughout Gaza is sustained and delivered through the UN-led response. Canada is a leading donor to the humanitarian response. In July, we announced $30 million in new humanitarian funding, which brings our total international assistance funding response for the crisis to over $40 million since October 7, 2023.
Canada remains steadfast in its support for a sovereign, democratic and viable State of Palestine, building its future in peace and security with the State of Israel.
[English]
The Deputy Chair: Thank you very much, Ms. Carney. We have a list of senators who wish to ask questions. As is our practice, senators, you will be given three minutes in this expanded session. We will get to a second round if we’re able to. I am asking senators and witnesses to be concise in questions and responses to respect the three-minute rule.
Senator Ataullahjan: Thank you for being here and for your presentations.
You used the word “unconscionable.” You gave us a figure of 64,000 children killed. Why is there silence from so many quarters? How is this different from other humanitarian crises? I know the scale is different, but can you just explain to the committee how this is different from other humanitarian crises?
Ms. Carney: Thank you for the question.
I will leave space on the question of “silence from many quarters,” but in terms of this crisis as it compares to other humanitarian crises, many of the needs are the same. What makes this crisis a bit different is the scale of the crisis and the fact that, should there be access allowed, responses could be delivered as we see done in other crises.
It’s not uncommon to have access restriction, or for a humanitarian response to be challenged. I think the scale of this and the number of access constraints make the ability to deliver the response that much more challenging than what we would see in a context like Ukraine or Sudan, both of which have their own issues to address. However, a bit more is able to get in and around.
The Deputy Chair: — this from a political policy perspective?
Stefanie McCollum, Director General, Middle East Bureau, Global Affairs Canada: I can’t speak to others, but Canada has certainly been making statements and being vocal about the need and the expectation to respect international humanitarian laws, to scale up humanitarian assistance and to look at unimpeded access throughout. We have repeated our desire to see international humanitarian laws respected and that is something has to be done to respect the humanitarian needs in Gaza.
Senator Ataullahjan: You said Canada has made statements; yet, we heard in this very place — it was a week or 10 days ago — from Oxfam and Red Cross. The young lady who was here from Oxfam said that we don’t need any more words. Do you think we’ll move beyond words? Has Canada done enough? Is there a double standard here in the way we are reacting to the situation in Ukraine and the way we are reacting to the situation in Gaza?
We have heard the statements, and I’m saying that we’re hearing that statements are not enough anymore. What would your response to that be?
Ms. McCollum: We agree that the humanitarian needs are grave and there needs to be a significant increase in the provision of humanitarian assistance. Canada has been leading and providing a lot on humanitarian assistance. We can get into some of that granularity.
However, we are very cognizant of the fact that more needs to be done, which is why we’re calling for humanitarian assistance to be scaled up. Should the ceasefire be successful and negotiations proceed, it would be one of the first things that Canada would be looking to contribute to and scale up.
Senator Dean: This is for either of our panellists. The September 29, 2025, 20-point peace plan seems to be gaining traction and I imagine it proposes a deployment of an international stabilization force to help train and support Palestinian police.
Two questions arise from that. This is narrow, but will Canada step up in engaging in or even leading the stabilization force proposal if it moves ahead?
More broadly and, I think, more urgently, would Canada lead or participate in a rapid response peacekeeping force to enforce the end of hostilities, enforce any agreement and to ensure that the further destruction of infrastructure in Gaza can end, as well as the further expansion of illegal settlements in Gaza?
Ms. McCollum: Thank you, senator.
Canada certainly welcomes and supports the deployment of an international stabilization force to ensure Hamas’s disarmament, facilitate the idea of withdrawal and protect civilians. We also support in the peace plan the temporary transitional governments by technocratic, apolitical Palestinian committee. Canada is in active discussions right now to see how Canada will be able to support such initiatives. I can’t speak to whether that will entail a deployment. I don’t want to presume what the decisions will be. I can say that we are actively speaking to our partners so that, if these negotiations are successful and there is broad agreement to this plan, Canada will be ready to speak to how we can support it and what we will be doing.
Senator Dean: Ms. McCollum, you’ve just recently returned from Lebanon and have a broader perspective on this, regionally, being able to look at this in a broader context. Do you have some high-level observations that you have thought about on the aircraft coming back to Canada?
Ms. McCollum: We’ve seen that the horrific attack on October 7 and the response has generated regional consequences. There are conflicts active in Lebanon, in Syria, in Yemen, et cetera, so certainly very concerned regionally.
We recognize the impact of any sort of durable peace on the region itself, which is another reason we’re very supportive, and looking to ensure that that broader perspective is brought to bear on the assistance that we provide and the energy that we’re putting in, in particular in supporting this opportunity for this peace plan so that peace can come to the region.
Senator Ravalia: Thank you to you both for being here and for the work that you do.
Ms. McCollum, could provide me with the status of those Palestinians seeking and awaiting refugee status in Canada? There have been some insinuations that perhaps the process has been delayed for a number of bureaucratic and other reasons. Are you able to enlighten me in that regard or is that for Global Affairs Canada?
Ms. McCollum: Unfortunately, senator, I would have to refer that question to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada that has the responsibility for refugee determination. We can certainly put the question forth and see about providing the committee with a reply.
Senator Ravalia: I certainly appreciate that.
Given Canada’s position on recognition of Palestinian statehood, there has been some discussion about how normalization of that process might proceed. Could you outline what steps we need to see or take in order to establish normalization versus recognition?
Ms. McCollum: Thank you, senator. There is a distinction between recognition and normalization.
Canada has and continues to be committed to a two-state solution, the independent, viable, sovereign Palestinian state, as we said. There are final status issues to negotiate, but we believe that recognition was important to preserve the viability and the commitment to an eventual two-state solution that will be negotiated by both parties.
On normalization, those discussions are under way. I can’t presume to know how they will end, but it could include deepening of normalization between Canada and Palestine in terms of exchange of ambassadors. It could be looking at different treaties. It could be embassy representation. We do have a representative office in Ramallah that continues to function and provide consular services. There might be more we can do there to normalize the relationship.
Those are all discussions we are having right now in terms of what we can also do to support the Palestinian Authority on reforms, but the recognition was more to preserve the possibility of the two-state solution, and normalization would be more on the diplomatic relations side of things.
Senator Al Zaibak: Ambassador McCollum, welcome back to Ottawa. Thank you both for being with us here today.
On September 21, Prime Minister Carney made a statement indicating that the Palestinian Authority had provided a direct commitment to Canada and others in the international community on much needed reforms, including fundamentally reforming its governance, including calling for an election.
Given that in the view many observers, the Palestinian Authority itself, as well as Hamas, lost credibility in the eyes of Palestinians, as well as in the eyes of the international community, why are we committing ourselves to a Palestinian Authority that has failed its people for the past 20, or 30 years? Aren’t there any alternatives within the Palestinian community and leadership that we can cultivate as reliable leaders and as reliable partners in the peace-making process and the state of Palestine?
Ms. McCollum: Thank you, senator. Undoubtedly, the Palestinian Authority needs to strengthen its governance and undertake much-needed reforms. Canada will increase its support to the Palestinian Authority in implementing its reform agenda because this builds on our long-standing development partnerships.
President Abbas has provided written commitments to Canada, as you mentioned, to follow through on these commitments, and we continue to coordinate with international partners who are also going to be providing support to the Palestinian Authority.
The credibility issue is at play. There is also a fiscal issue with the withholding of tax revenues that Canada is pursuing, and in terms of a different governance, I think that’s for the Palestinian people and not for me to comment on myself. It’s outside of my mandate.
Senator Al Zaibak: Don’t you think that it’s about time that we cultivate or identify other leadership within the Palestinian people that have the integrity, reputation and reliability that we can count on? Don’t you think it’s important to identify that at this point?
Ms. McCollum: Senator, I don’t feel it is my place to comment or to identify other leadership in another country, but I will say that Canada does believe it is important for the Palestinian Authority to be able to implement the reforms that they need to provide that security, that stability, that prosperity for the Palestinian people.
Senator Coyle: Welcome to our two witnesses today. We are really happy to have you with us and to have this opportunity to hear about the humanitarian situation and what Canada is doing to contribute, and also a little about what’s going on politically in the region. Of course, the two are intimately linked, as you have mentioned.
First, I have a question for you, Ms. Carney, and then I’ll have one for Ms. McCollum.
Canada has provided, I believe you said, $400 million since October 7, two years ago for humanitarian aid, correct? I’m wondering if there is any kind of estimation that Canada, with its international partners, has done on what the grand scope is of the total humanitarian need at this time, what it looks like in, hopefully, a stabilization period, and what it might look like in the longer term?
Ms. Carney: Thank you for that question. Just to clarify, the $400 million in international assistance does include, in large part, humanitarian assistance, but some peace and security, early recovery and development assistance is included as part of that.
In terms of estimation of need, I’m thankful that I am not the one that has to do that. The system does that for us, and they do it in a quite coordinated way to give us a sense.
What we saw in the past year is that in Gaza, there are 3.3 million people in need, which is the vast majority of the population in West Bank and Gaza, requiring over US$4 billion in order to provide assistance that would be needed to help 2.1 million of those people. Each year, the UN coordinates among all of the humanitarian actors in a location. They are in the middle of trying to do that now among all of the other things that they are trying to do in the region. We’re hoping that in a couple of months, usually by December, we’ll get the estimation of what the humanitarian needs are for 2026. In that, they will usually build in some contingency should access open up. Does that change the picture? Should access stay constrained, what can we do now?
Senator Coyle: Ms. McCollum, we have heard about the problems with Israel adhering to international humanitarian law. What is Canada doing at this moment, either in its diplomatic relations with Israel or with its international partners, concerning this issue of international humanitarian law?
Ms. McCollum: We are continuing and have continued to urge Israel to respect international humanitarian law. As we said earlier, urging unimpeded access of humanitarian assistance at scale. Part of the recognition of Palestine was to protect that two‑state solution when there was a closing window to be doing that, including on the part of Israel, by not facilitating humanitarian relief. Canada has implemented sanction packages against extremist settlers in the West Bank, to ministers who incite violence and a continuation of this humanitarian catastrophe, for example as well.
[Translation]
Senator Gerba: I will conclude with the question raised here by Senator Ataullahjan. She wanted to know the difference between what is happening today in Gaza and what happened in Ukraine. When Russia unjustly attacked Ukraine, Canada made an impressive deployment of financial and human resources, whereas today, it seems that this isn’t exactly the case. Are we really doing enough? If not, what more should be done to dispel this impression of “double standards” that we all have?
Ms. Carney: Thank you for the question.
[English]
From the actual aid perspective, I will say there might be a bit of a misconception that the assistance being offered is of a different quality or quantity than what was offered in Ukraine. At the onset of Ukraine crisis, there was a large scale-up in resources which, in fact, is what we’ve also seen in the Gaza crisis. Notwithstanding that access is needed for a full scale-up in resources, I expect that additional resources will likely be brought to bear should conditions change and that the ability to respond would change in line with that. In regard to what is being done in the way of assistance, I think there’s a comparability.
I do also think, as my colleague here has mentioned, there are a lot of statements being made, and I take the point that sometimes a statement isn’t the entirety of what needs to be done, but the statements are important, the position is important, and some of that is being done openly, but there is also some of that that is being done quietly to try to ensure that what needs to happen is happening. That is also comparable with what we saw in response to the Ukraine crisis, namely public facing and quiet diplomacy at work, both of which are needed.
Think there are differences, but grosso modo, I think the tool kit that Canada has to bring to bear is being deployed if and as possible.
[Translation]
Senator Gerba: Thank you for your response. I understand that there is a deployment and statements that are very much appreciated, and that Canada is taking a fairly clear position. However, the number of humanitarian workers continues to rise. We had representatives from Oxfam here recently, and they brought everyone at the meeting to tears because we are now at 400 humanitarian workers who have been killed. The UN even estimates that this number is the highest in its history.
What are you doing to protect Canadian personnel in Gaza?
Ms. Carney: Thank you for the question.
[English]
Ms. Carney: Canada is seized with violations of international humanitarian law, which includes the protection of civilians and humanitarian and medical personnel.
That overt and quiet diplomacy, we’re doing it on our own. We’re doing that jointly with other donors. We’re ensuring that this stays on the agenda, that it stays on the radar, to try to push for the change that we want to see, where all parties to the conflict actually abide by their obligations under international humanitarian law.
You are correct, though. As I said in my opening remarks, this crisis has some of the most significant numbers that we’ve seen in modern history of attacks on personnel that we would normally expect to see protected in a conflict.
Senator Woo: I have a question for Ms. Carney and then Ms. McCollum.
In May of this year, our government, together with France and the U.K., issued a threat to Israel that it would take concrete actions if Israel failed to allow the resumption of aid, unimpeded access to humanitarian aid into Gaza. That was four months ago.
Is it your sense that the situation has improved substantially in the four months?
Ms. Carney: Thank you for the question. Humanitarian aid is being delivered in Gaza.
Senator Woo: The question is: Is it your assessment that Israel has met the condition that Canada, the U.K. and France have put out that aid is not impeded?
Ms. Carney: Aid is impeded at the moment.
Senator Woo: What concrete actions have we taken, as we threatened to do four months ago?
Ms. Carney: Canada, again, is continuing to work through its diplomatic tools.
Senator Woo: Quiet diplomacy. Pursue Asia —
Ms. Carney: Quiet diplomacy, working with our counterparts.
Senator Woo: Those are the concrete actions we’ve taken to follow up on the threat that we would take some action if Israel did not stop its impeding of aid to Gaza.
Ms. Carney: Those are the concrete actions.
Senator Woo: My question for Ambassador McCollum is whether there have been any discussions within Global Affairs Canada, particularly your legal folks, about the risk of complicity for Canada and Canadians in our failure to meet our international obligations under international law?
Ms. McCollum: Thank you, senator. Canada takes its responsibilities and obligations under international law very seriously, including the obligation to refrain from war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide. We have a robust process in place to ensure respect for our international obligations and to avoid complicity in violations of international law committed by the parties to armed conflicts. Canada, as we’ve repeated, does not tolerate impunity for international humanitarian law violations, and we believe that all states in a conflict have a moral duty to respect international humanitarian law and to protect civilians and humanitarian workers, and ensure that humanitarian assistance can be provided.
In terms of the actual legal frameworks and specifics, I would have to defer to my colleagues at Justice Canada, but I can bring them the question if you’re looking for the specifics.
Senator Woo: Yes. If you can produce any documents on discussions that assess the risk to Canada of complicity in violations of international law, including war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide, that would be very helpful.
Second, if, in fact, we are not allowing impunity, do I take it that we will pursue the prosecution of individuals in states that are found guilty of violations of international law?
Ms. McCollum: Senator, apologies. I think that’s a matter for the courts to decide on prosecution, so I will defer the question and try to come to an answer for the committee on that specific from the experts.
[Translation]
Senator Hébert: On a slightly more optimistic note, what role could Canada play in a stabilization force if there were to be a peace plan? What would be the priorities to focus on at that point, should a resolution be reached?
Ms. McCollum: We’re optimistic, and that’s why we support the efforts of our partners in the United States, Egypt, Turkey and Qatar to move forward with negotiations, in which Canada could play a role. That would mean an increase in humanitarian aid, but we can also talk about aid and development in terms of early recovery. We’ve already announced $20 million to our UN partners, which will be dedicated primarily to the health and medical services sector in Gaza.
We have already discussed this, but the Palestinian authorities should be supported in the reforms needed to promote justice, governance and elections. We will work with our partners, donor countries, the countries involved and the international committee to avoid duplication and to ensure that this is done as efficiently as possible and that we support efforts in the most targeted way possible.
Senator Hébert: On the subject of aid for food security and famine — and I don’t want to get into semantics, because while we are debating this, there are people who are hungry — what is your reading of the current situation in Gaza?
[English]
Ms. Carney: Thank you for the question.
Right now, almost the entirety of the population of Gaza is acutely food insecure. In humanitarian aid, we look at acutely food insecure, emergency levels and starving on the catastrophic scale.
The entirety of the population is acutely food insecure. Half a million people verified by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, or IPC, which is the seminal body we trust to do this verification, are in famine. Those numbers are supposed to be redone at the end of this month. We expect that number will go up, and as you can only imagine, then there is that category in between what was measured, about a million people that were at emergency levels, who are at risk of falling into the famine levels of food insecurity.
Senator MacDonald: I have a question for both of you. First, the former ambassador to Lebanon. Canada is 40 million people in a world of 7 billion. I’m curious. Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan and Syria, all the countries in the region, what is their involvement in terms of the support for relief? What are they doing?
Ms. McCollum: Thank you, senator. I can speak more knowledgeably to Lebanon. They are carrying the burden of Palestinian refugees at the highest per capita number in the world. They are definitely doing their share of the burden. They are involved in the negotiation process. Like all of us, they are keen to see an end to this conflict. There’s mediation, negotiation and diplomacy, to actively contribute.
You have Egypt and Qatar, whom you mentioned. They are both actively right now in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, negotiating and trying to come to an agreement between Hamas and Israel on the 20-point peace plan presented by Donald Trump. Türkiye is playing a leadership role in behind-the-scenes diplomacy.
You have international conferences that have been held in the donor communities to try to raise funds, and there is discussion now of their active participation in what comes next, in the stabilization force or in the capacity building, but I cannot pronounce on what specifically they will do at that moment.
Senator MacDonald: I wasn’t asking about conferences and mediation but actual relief. In terms of relief on the ground, what are they providing?
Ms. McCollum: It’s an excellent question. I’m sorry I don’t have those countries’ aid figures at the ready. They have been contributing aid.
Canada collaborated with Jordan on an airlift recently. Jordan has been instrumental in getting humanitarian assistance across its borders, and Egypt has been looking at trying to help the movement of goods and people. It hasn’t been as successful, but they are continuing to try.
We know that some of the other Arab states had provided humanitarian assistance, either in kind or monetarily, but I’m afraid I don’t have those specifics.
The Deputy Chair: We could ask for them. Could you get them and share them with the clerk? Thank you.
Senator MacDonald: Ms. Carney, I think you mentioned there was an estimated 64,000 children killed? Is that the number you used?
Ms. Carney: That was from UNICEF reporting today.
Senator MacDonald: I’m punching up some stuff in perplexity. According to official reports from Gaza Health Ministry, UNICEF, Save the Children and Oxfam, it was about 21,000. Both figures are terrible, but that’s a huge discrepancy. What figure should we trust?
Ms. Carney: Thank you for the question. I will say quite honestly that at this point in time, getting complete and accurate data out of this crisis is difficult because the situation is always evolving. There are different figures being reported across the board. There is a chance we will not have final figures for quite a long time.
I think the sense of an increase in scale is probably what should be the takeaway, and the fact that either of those numbers, in fact, is a significant number of children unnecessarily killed.
The Deputy Chair: This is the end of the first round. We have a list for a second round, but before I go to that, I’d like to ask a question, if I can, of Ms. Carney.
Could you elaborate as to what the effect, if any, of the demise of the USAID and the reductions of U.K. international assistance has been on the situation in Gaza?
Ms. Carney: In Gaza, across the board, I think the reductions we’ve seen in international assistance are very necessarily having an impact on what partners are able to do and deliver. It’s pushing the system into a moment where they also have to rethink how they operate.
Practically on the ground, partners continue to deliver with the finances that they have at hand. The response in Gaza in particular is funded at a level proportionally that is not out of line with what we see for other crises across the world right now. There is less money in the global humanitarian system right now, but partners are delivering with the money that they do have at hand. They are navigating things like changes in supply lines, supply chains that might have been heavily reliant on one donor or another, but as always, there’s a resilience in this community, and they are rising to do what they can with the dollars at hand.
The Deputy Chair: Are other humanitarian needs being shortchanged to divert that needed assistance to Gaza?
Ms. Carney: I don’t have the full diagnostic of the responses to different crises. I think it’s fair to say that quite often when you have crises of such significant proportions, there will be a large-scale response. That said, they’re looking across the big crises that Canada is responding to right now, looking at the proportion of their appeals that are funded, and Gaza is in line with many of the other large crises in terms of proportional response received by Canada and others. Of course, there are some crises that don’t gain the same level of visibility that might be getting a little bit less internationally, not from Canada, but as a whole.
The Deputy Chair: Thank you very much.
Senator Al Zaibak: I have two questions, one for each of our witnesses, if possible. The first one is for Ambassador McCollum. How does Canada’s recognition of the state of Palestine reshape our diplomatic engagement with Israel, the Palestinian authority and the regional partners toward a viable two-state solution?
Ms. McCollum: Thank you senator. We have a long-standing bilateral relationship with Israel. We certainly made sure Israel was aware of our intent to recognize Palestine and how we saw that as preserving the possibility of a two-state solution negotiated by both parties to a peaceful resolution that benefits Israel as well. Obviously, those conversations are ongoing. Diplomatically, the relationship remains here with the Ambassador of Israel. We have the Ambassador of Canada in Tel Aviv, so those relationships continue to exist.
There are difficult moments when we’re being honest with each other, but nonetheless, those conversations will continue. They need to continue, and we are doing this for a two-state solution and for peace in the region, which will benefit Israel in the long run. This is about also allowing them to live in peace so they don’t have to exercise their right to defend themselves, which we believe they have the right to do.
Senator Coyle: Back to you, Ms. McCollum. Canada has had a long relationship with this part of the world. We’ve had development assistance and humanitarian assistance, and I don’t know what we’ve done on the political side in the West Bank or in Gaza before now.
Back to my colleague’s earlier question. We’re now working with the Palestinian Authority in the hopes that that body will reform and become a more robust governing body for the Palestinian people. I’m curious, though, what we know about the situation on the ground. Often in situations like this, in other countries anyway, you have the very capable people in the diaspora, the civil society leaders, business leaders, academics, et cetera, others who are trying to play a role in bringing in a government or governance system that will be set up for success. Are we connected into that at all or is that happening?
Ms. McCollum: Thank you, senator, for question. Yes, certainly they are part of the consultations, they are part of the negotiations and are part of our effects on reform. As we mentioned, one reform element that has been committed to is to hold elections next year. That democratic process, that sovereignty over the state, is certainly something we want to support. And there are many actors at play there, as you mentioned, the non-profit, the citizens themselves, political parties, analysts, academics, et cetera, all who have perspectives.
I think Canada wants to work collaboratively with those who are interested in sharing the same reform agenda that we find is important for the future stability and security of Palestine. In those cases certainly would look at where we could support those efforts that align.
In terms of making pronouncements or influencing the government itself, that would not be something that we would look at doing.
[Translation]
Senator Gerba: I would like to return to the question raised by my colleague Senator MacDonald, because there is a famous author who said, “The first casualty of war is the truth.”
My question is for Ms. McCollum. Western media have difficulty accessing Gaza and when they do venture there, it is often at the risk of their lives. I would like to know what reliable source of information you rely on for your figures, compared to the AI figures mentioned by my colleague.
Ms. McCollum: Indeed, there are access issues, and even though journalists can get into Gaza, it is very dangerous. We’ve talked about the number of deaths involving humanitarian workers, but there are also many journalists who have been killed or injured in the conflict. So knowing that the information is difficult to obtain, we rely on our trusted partners on the ground, such as the United Nations. It is often journalists we know who have been able to visit Gaza and come back to give us their accounts. We look for reliable sources where we can, but they mainly come from actors on the ground. It’s often the United Nations that informs us. We refer to statistics from UNICEF, UNDP and other organizations that keep us informed of what is happening on the ground.
Senator Gerba: In short, Israel disputes the United Nations’ figures. What are the real figures they have? How do they get these figures?
Ms. McCollum: Unfortunately, I cannot comment on Israel’s figures, Israel’s sources, or the partners they use as sources. I can only say where Canada gets its information from, which it considers to be the most reliable possible.
Senator Gerba: Thank you.
[English]
Senator Woo: Continuing our discussion on impunity and how Canada will not allow it to happen as well as the need for the courts to pronounce, do I take it from your answer that we recognize Benjamin Netanyahu as a war criminal because the ICC has issued an arrest warrant for him and that we will act on the arrest warrant if we have the opportunity to do so?
Ms. McCollum: Canada has pronounced itself on the matter in supporting the ICC’s critical role in pursuing accountability and the work of the court. We have not pronounced ourselves on the questions that the senator has asked.
Senator Woo: You have answered the question. If we accept the decision of the International Criminal Court, why would we not accept the arrest warrant that they have issued?
Ms. McCollum: I can’t speak to that, that is outside my jurisdiction. What I can say is that we have acknowledged the important work of the court and respect its critical role in pursuing accountability.
Senator Woo: But we have not accepted the arrest warrant or made a decision on the arrest warrant that the International Criminal Court has issued; fair to say?
Ms. McCollum: Unfortunately, that is not a question I have the remit to answer. I will have to ask others in the government to provide you with that information.
Senator Woo: Thank you.
Senator Dean: We have heard that tens of thousands of children have died as a result of a relatively one-sided conflict. We know that there has been the indiscriminate destruction of public health infrastructure in Gaza, hospitals, schools, clean water facilities, just about every sort of important public infrastructure that could be found has been destroyed.
Hospitals destroyed, medical personnel and journalists targeted. It’s one thing to see all of that, it is another thing more broadly to indiscriminately and purposely starve a population. This is uncontested I think at least in this room.
The UN agency, UNRWA was replaced by an organization called the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. What we know about this is that you’re as likely to take a bullet in the head as obtain a bag of flour if you go to one of its distribution sites.
What do we know about this foundation? What can you tell us about it? What’s the nature of it? Who is it that runs it? What sort of people staff that organization?
Ms. Carney: I will start this response by saying that Canada has repeatedly deplored the killing of civilians while seeking aid near the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation distribution sites and we consistently call for a UN-led response.
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation itself is a mechanism that was created as an alternative to get food assistance into this crisis. The way it was chosen and how it has stood up is outside of our remit. We do choose our partners based on their proven expertise and ability to work within that coordinated system.
It is quite separate from what Canada would support as part of a humanitarian response.
Senator Dean: Do you know anything about the nature of the personnel, where they come from, what their qualifications and background are?
Ms. Carney: So we don’t have detailed, inside information into the Gaza Humanitarian Fund outside of what you would also be able to source yourself through the media or open-source information.
Senator Dean: Thank you.
[Translation]
Senator Hébert: With regard to the answer you gave earlier on issues related to famine and food security, could you send us the figures you mentioned? Do you also have figures on deaths related to this problematic situation and tragedy on the ground?
Ms. Carney: I don’t have any at the moment, but we can check and forward them to you if we do.
Senator Hébert: Yes, I would be interested. Thank you.
[English]
The Deputy Chair: Colleagues, that wraps up this panel. I would like to thank our witnesses for appearing.
For our second panel, I wish to welcome, from CARE Canada, Mary Bridger, Head of Advocacy and Policy. Welcome. From Oxfam Canada, we welcome Dalia Al-Awqati, Deputy Director, Humanitarian Affairs, who has been here in a previous role, I believe. From Save the Children Canada, we have Patrick Robitaille, Head of Humanitarian Affairs. He is coming to us remotely, and in person in the room is Emilie Galland-Jarrett, Head of Policy, Advocacy and Government Relations. We welcome you all and thank you for being here. We’re ready now to hear your statement, which will come from Mary Bridger.
Mary Bridger, Head of Advocacy and Policy, CARE Canada: Thank you for having us here today.
I would like to start by honouring the work and memory of Tasneem Shublaq. Ms. Shublaq is a psychologist who worked for Juzoor for Health and Social Development, a Palestinian partner organization of CARE and Oxfam. She was killed in Gaza City alongside three of her four children in an Israel airstrike just weeks ago. She was pregnant at the time and had already lost a child last year in another Israeli airstrike. Her husband was also fatally wounded in the most recent attack.
Tasneem Shublaq is among hundreds of humanitarians and the more than 67,000 Palestinians killed in Gaza over the last two years, the large majority being women and children.
I wanted to start these remarks by highlighting the human component to these numbers, because we can get lost in the headlines and lose sight of the people and tangible impacts inherent within them.
We are hearing these stories every day from our teams on the ground. CARE International has been operating in Gaza and the West Bank since 1948. Since the start of this crisis, CARE and our local partners have reached over a million people across the West Bank and Gaza with water, food, shelter items, medical support and programming. Today, despite the inhumane conditions, our staff and partners continue to operate health care centres and mobile health clinics, treating primarily mothers and children, as well as distributing clean water and fuel.
Women and girls are bearing the brunt of this catastrophic humanitarian crisis, as they do time and time again. When food is scarce, they tend to eat last and least. However, their reality is even worse than mothers “simply” eating less and last. Mothers, on a daily basis in Gaza, if able to access any food at all, are forced to not only go without themselves but decide which of their children will get some of the meager food and which will go without. When clinics are overwhelmed, sexual and reproductive health services are often the first to go, and when there is no safe place to shelter, the risk of sexual and gender-based violence rises. Many of those visiting our clinic include pregnant women who are facing terrifying prospects. With less than 40% of the hospitals operational and medical supplies scarce, our team has spoken to doctors who must perform C‑sections without anesthesia and see mothers who lose their babies right after giving birth because there is no power to run incubators that could keep them alive.
CARE testified before this committee in November 2023, and we shared then this same fact that women were undergoing C‑sections without anesthesia. Today, 685 days of suffering later, we are here again, telling you that women are still experiencing this inhumane pain and trauma.
Despite their terrifying daily reality, organizations like CARE and our partners continue to show up every day and operate on the ground to the best of their ability. With thanks to donors like Global Affairs Canada, our teams are still doing what they can to reach those most in need, with up to 300 individuals treated at one of our clinics every day with prenatal care, nutrition support and more. However, the Al-Samer clinic in Gaza, run by our partner, the Palestinian Medical Relief Society, or PMRS, was destroyed by an Israeli airstrike on September 22. That centre saw between 700 and 1,000 patients daily, providing primary health care, women’s health services, mental health and psychosocial supports, physiotherapy and wound dressing. The available services remaining cannot meet the scale of need, and as the days pass, even the limited services available are collapsing.
Although continuous displacement orders are issued from Israel and, indeed, over 1.1 million Palestinians have already been displaced across the Gaza Strip, many of our staff and partners have decided to remain in place, telling us that “there is nowhere safe to go.”
But even with their willingness to remain, our supplies in Gaza are quickly running out. CARE has over $1.5 million worth of aid that has been blocked at the border for many months, despite currently being registered with the authorities. This includes critical shipments of food parcels, tents, baby kits, hygiene supplies and medical supplies. The inability of those supplies to cross into Gaza and reach those in need is also preventing Canadian government funds from fulfilling the commitments made by Canadians.
CARE remains ready to scale up our response to provide life‑saving aid, but to do so, we need a permanent ceasefire and full, unhindered access.
As we watch the current negotiations unfold with anticipation and even hope, we remain focused on the reality on the ground. Our teams know better than anyone that a ceasefire is only one piece of what is needed. If it isn’t accompanied by immediate and sustained access to aid distribution at scale, it will not solve the desperate crisis on the ground. The reality is that this access to humanitarian aid as well as the safety and security of civilians, including humanitarian workers, should never be reliant on a ceasefire being in place. Those are non-negotiables — red lines, even in active conflict.
We have seen violation after violation of international humanitarian law unfold over the past two years, setting dangerous global precedents that impact not only the devastation in Gaza, but in future crises.
As we awoke today, we learned that another six Canadians had been intercepted by Israel as part of the freedom flotilla, adding to the more than 500 global citizens detained on flotillas over the past two weeks.
The Deputy Chair: You’re past your five minutes. Could wind it up so we can hear from your colleagues.
Ms. Bridger: I’ll just conclude for the last point.
Over the past two years, our organizations have come here multiple times, always grateful to have the chance to amplify the realities.
However, my colleagues will take the time to share more on these specific calls to action that we seek today. I leave you with this, rhetoric and half measures are not going to be enough. Our colleagues, like Tasmeen Shublaq, continue to die following years of statements. The moment requires decisive action. Canada can and must step forward.
Thank you.
The Deputy Chair: We’ll now hear from your Oxfam colleague Dalia Al-Awqati.
Dalia Al-Awqati, Deputy Director, Humanitarian Affairs, Oxfam Canada: Dear Senators, thank you very much for the opportunity to speak today about the humanitarian situation in Gaza.
For two years, we’ve watched the humanitarian crisis spiral into a catastrophe and today it’s widely acknowledged as a genocide.
A graveyard for children. A post-apocalyptic killing field. Hell on earth. These are just some of the ways Gaza has been described by leaders of humanitarian agencies.
Ninety per cent of homes have been damaged or destroyed, health facilities regularly targeted, and more than 80% of Gaza’s water infrastructure has been decimated — all of this in contravention to International humanitarian law.
The ICRC says that the situation in Gaza surpasses any acceptable legal, moral and humane standard. And in 20 years of humanitarian work I have never seen anything like this.
Food, water, medicine, and other items essential to survival have been continuously blocked by Israel from entering Gaza. For those who are still alive, they try to survive in the most literal sense of the word, that includes our 40 staff in Gaza and their families.
The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification system report, released in August, confirmed famine in Gaza City and acute hunger in most other parts of the Gaza Strip. The first famine in the history of the Middle East, entirely engineered and preventable.
And while some food has been delivered through the highly problematic Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, this has come at the cost of more than 3,000 lives lost as people were targeted seeking aid.
Mohammad, a Palestinian injured at a militarized distribution point, describes seeking Aid from the GHF. He says:
We’ve been displaced for the tenth time to Al-Mawasi. The kids wake up asking for food. There is none. I had no choice but to go to the aid distribution points. We run five or six kilometres just to get there and everyone lies flat on the ground. No one is allowed to stand. If you lift your head, you’re shot right between the eyes. I have seen death five, six, seven times. You eat your food soaked in blood. Do you know what it means to eat food soaked in blood?
Today, Palestinians in Gaza continue to be subject to relentless violence in every form. At militarized distribution points, by drones and quadcopters that stalk them during the days and airstrikes that haunt their nights.
Our role as NGOs is to try and provide some assistance in the face of immense obstacles and to do so in a manner that affords communities some dignity. We have done so with support from the Canadian government and thousands of Canadians, but the situation continues to deteriorate.
Our office in Gaza City remains open despite the displacement orders, the complete blockade since March 2025 and heightened attacks of recent weeks.
My colleague, Motaz, describes the situation as a “nightmare with no end in sight.” Our staff continue to provide assistance to people in need while they themselves are displaced numerous times. But they’re obstructed from doing so at every step of the way by onerous processes and ever-changing guidelines for receiving humanitarian supplies.
Other bureaucratic obstructions include dual-use designations and the new INGO registration guidelines.
Oxfam has over $3 million in supplies waiting at the border that have been blocked from entry for months. Even locally provided services, such as water trucking, function with great difficulty. Attacks are persistent, roads are impassable, fuel is scarce and people are often on the move, especially as Israel continues its seizure of Gaza City.
International protections afforded to civilians during times of war have not been applied nor respected in Gaza. Israel violates international law in Gaza, but also in the West Bank where Palestinians are being ethnically cleansed from their homes by state policy and settler violence.
The expansion of settlements, considered a war crime by international law and unlawful by Canada’s own foreign policy, are the direct root of the humanitarian crisis that we are responding to.
Since August, we and our supporters have sent Prime Minister Carney over 33,000 letters demanding Canada uphold international law by taking three concrete measures. First by ensuring a full arms embargo on Canadian-made arms and arms components, including those going to Israel through the U.S. Second, by cancelling the Canada-Israel Free Trade Agreement. And, finally, by using every diplomatic channel and economic lever available to promote accountability to international law and to demand safe, principled and unimpeded humanitarian access.
Senators, humanitarian assistance can alleviate suffering, but aid alone will not solve the genocide in Gaza nor ethnic cleansing in the West Bank.
The Deputy Chair: Your five minutes is up. I want to treat you all equally here. Could you wrap it up?
Ms. Al-Awqati: Last point.
Canada must act with resolve and immediacy. We are counting on your support.
Thank you for your time.
The Deputy Chair: Thank you very much.
We’ll now hear from Save the Children Canada. And on screen, don’t forget that we have Patrick Robitaille, who is the Head of Humanitarian Affairs, but we’ll hear from our witness here, Emilie Galland-Jarrett, Head of Policy, Advocacy and Government Relations, Save the Children Canada.
Patrick Robitaille, Head of Humanitarian Affairs, Save the Children Canada: Thank you, for inviting Save the Children here for a third time. I wish we were not here to say, yet again, that the situation is even worse than before — but it is. Since we spoke last, the deterioration of the nutritional situation in our clinics has been drastic. Babies and young children who arrive are so severely malnourished they must be transferred directly to hospitals — and that’s if they can find one.
The children are literally starving to death. We all saw a man-made famine in the making, deliberately, in real time, used as a method of warfare.
Our stocks of relief items, like those of my colleagues, are waiting in warehouses only a few kilometres away and they are refused access.
When I spoke to one of our team members in Gaza a few days ago, she didn’t have much time. She needed to finish the call rapidly because she had to relocate herself and her 3-year-old, as they were forced and displaced from the north leaving the ruin of her home, but also everything she had, behind.
I still have chills thinking of her asking, where can we possibly go? This is the reality of thousands of people as they are asked to squeeze into 12% of the Gaza Strip that is pointed out to them.
And then she switched gears to speak of the children that they managed to provide nutrition support, to comfort, to protect. And at the end of the call she said, “Please tell your government that our supply of nutritional supplements is going to last only for two more days.” Well, I’m telling you now.
How can children believe in peace as still today they are killed by the dozens? As we speak some lose limbs, and if they make it to the hospital they are treated without anesthesia. Everyday children lose parents, friends and homes. Children live in distress, fear and nightmares. What is peace if you have no hope for a future?
In our therapeutic sessions, some children used to say they wished for peace, for food; now they say they wish to die — imagine.
I will yield the remaining time to my colleague, Ms. Galland-Jarrett.
The Deputy Chair: Ms. Galland-Jarrett.
Emilie Galland-Jarrett, Head of Policy, Advocacy and Government Relations, Save the Children Canada: Thank you, Patrick, and thank you, senators.
Not only are the experiences described horrific, but it is important to recall that these are grave violations of the rights guaranteed under the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Canada helped champion this convention and has been a leader in the development and adoption of international laws and norms.
These are also violations of international humanitarian law. Children are off-limits in war, because they are uniquely vulnerable to the effects of war, and they have a far lower threshold for harm compared to adults.
Children are entitled to protection in conflict, to food and water, to education and medical care, none of which they currently enjoy. The denial of humanitarian aid is itself a grave violation against children under international law. Canada has an obligation to speak and act.
Canada has the credibility to lead and to push for the protection of children in armed conflict, just as it did with The Vancouver Principles. It must do everything possible to protect children from the physical and mental harm caused by ongoing violence.
We’re calling on the government to champion an immediate and definitive ceasefire — the only way to stop grave violations against children; to ensure humanitarian access; to call publicly and privately for the full lifting of the siege and for safe, predictable aid corridors to prevent starvation; to immediately halt the direct and indirect transfer of weapons, parts and ammunition to the government of Israel; to increase flexible humanitarian funding; and to work with international human rights actors and accountability mechanisms to address and prevent grave violations of children’s rights.
Children are counting on us. Thousands of children have already lost their lives at the hands of international inaction. A Palestinian child who has sought refuge in Canada spoke in front of the Canadian Parliament recently, telling of the horrors she witnessed:
One day the attack was so strong that a boy was thrown into the air and smashed into our door. He was covered in blood.
She also said, “Don’t forget the children of Gaza.”
Canada must uphold international humanitarian law, no matter the conflict and context. Without accountability, a dangerous precedent is being set, which will, in turn, make our support to children in other crises more difficult in the future.
Canada’s voice and diplomatic actions matter. Inaction is a choice. Indecision is complicity. Piecemeal arrangements and symbolic gestures like airdrops or flawed aid deals serve as a smoke screen for inaction. They cannot replace states’ legal and moral obligations to protect Palestinian civilians and ensure meaningful access at scale.
Canada can and must save lives before there are no children left to save. Children have reached their breaking point. Where is yours?
The Deputy Chair: Thank you very much for those statements.
We’re now moving to the round of questions. Senators know this, but for our witnesses, we have three-minute rounds for question and response. I’ll try to keep it fair in terms of the allocation of time.
Senator Dean: Thank you to our witnesses.
I’ve written down here, “A man-made famine used as a weapon of warfare.”
We’ve heard about the deaths of upwards of 64,000 children in Gaza. We know that Israel Defense Forces, or IDF, have purposely destroyed homes, public infrastructure, hospitals, sewer and water infrastructure and indiscriminately targeted innocent women and children. We’ve seen the mass dislocation of a population and aid blocked at the borders, as you’ve described.
We know that the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, or UNRWA, has been replaced by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which, on its face, one would think was a source of aid and succour, but it appears to be quite a dangerous group of people to approach for food. Can you tell us a little bit about what we should know about the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation?
The Deputy Chair: Senator, to whom are you addressing this?
Senator Dean: Whomever knows the most about the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.
Ms. Al-Awqati: The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation is a U.S.-backed Israeli-supported entity. It operates outside of the humanitarian structure, a structure that has existed for decades in Gaza, as it does in other humanitarian contexts and conflicts across the world.
We view it, and it is, actually, a politicized, militarized distribution scheme that is not worthy of the label “aid.” It is a death trap for people who have been intentionally starved for months that go there as a last resort. They go knowing they will be injured. They go knowing they might be killed.
The situation is so bad, and the starvation clearly intentional, that people will send their children. They will send their most able-bodied people to go and try to get whatever food — sometimes scraps, sometimes none — to come back and feed their families. It is dangerous. It is politicized. It is militarized. It is not humanitarian aid.
Senator Coyle: As a very quick follow-up to that, who is staffing it?
Ms. Al-Awqati: Based on publicly available information, it is largely staffed by former U.S. military personnel.
Senator Coyle: That’s what I assumed. Thank you very much.
Your testimony today, including our colleague on the line, is very consistent with what we’ve been hearing. Some of us were involved in a session this summer, and we had Hiba Alhejazi from CARE, online with us. She spoke about the man-made famine that was, she said, created by Israeli policies, very specifically. She said the system is the crime. She said that bureaucracy has become a weapon, and I think I have heard the same thing here. She said that there is such an incredible weaponization of aid, including staff lists that have to be provided.
Could you speak about this issue of staff lists, and then I have a quick question after that?
Ms. Bridger: Yes, I can speak to that.
The staff lists are part of new requirements that came out from the Israeli government to our organizations on the ground as part of a reregistration that was mandated earlier this year. One of the new components that we were asked to comply with — seemingly out of nowhere — was the supply of our Palestinian staff details to Israel.
Across the board, the vast majority of organizations were unanimous in our refusal to do that. It was not something that we were willing to give the Israeli government. It was not something we wanted to be complicit with.
That being said, at this point, where this sits is that there has been a deadline extended for that registration until the end of the year. We are currently still registered. There’s no reason why we should not be able to be delivering aid, which is why the broader issue around the registration is exactly what you mentioned, Senator Coyle, the broader obstructions being placed on aid organizations. It’s not a single issue, but, rather, registration is a symptom of a broader structural problem where there are impediments put before organizations and barriers placed in front of us that stop us from doing our work, regardless.
Even if we were to comply fully — which we will not do — we still have no feeling that we would be able to operate freely and to the demand needed.
Senator Ataullahjan: I have so many questions, and we could sit and do this for hours. My first question to all four of you would be: Are you satisfied with the response that you’ve had from this government, the Canadian government?
Ms. Bridger: Should we count to three and all answer at the same time?
Go ahead, Ms. Galland-Jarrett.
Ms. Galland-Jarrett: The short answer is, “No.”
As pointed out earlier by Senator Woo, statements were made months ago that if the situation didn’t change, more action would be taken. We haven’t really seen that action.
We are, of course, happy to receive humanitarian funding from the Canadian government, but in a situation where it is difficult for us to, then, get that aid into the country, we need diplomatic action, and we need all levers to be used. At this point in time, I think, we would all be in agreement that this is not the case.
Ms. Bridger: I think the only piece that I would add to that, other than echoing everything my colleague here mentioned, is that we have seen Canada take a leadership role when it comes to speaking out on the crisis, and that is something that a lot of our peers — CARE is a confederation; we have entities in many different countries — and a lot of our peers look to Canada and commend the country for how regularly they speak out on this issue in statements.
However, we haven’t seen a lot beyond that.
There was a question in the previous session to the Global Affairs Canada colleagues about what happens when the statements that promise follow-up actions don’t see follow-up actions being presented, and that’s certainly what we would like to see as well. We would like to see this move beyond statements, as promised in the statements, and see some tangible actions coming forward.
Senator Ataullahjan: I was waiting to hear from Ms. Al‑Awqati, to say if you’re satisfied.
Ms. Al-Awqati: No. I’m sure that doesn’t come as surprise. In addition to what my colleague said, the lack of action, the statements — yes, I want to say they’ve been good, but actually, no, they have improved over the course of the past two years and come more in line with international law and recognitions and violations. But the reality is continued impunity is what allowed us to get to this point, to the point where it is an acknowledged genocide, where ethnic cleansing is happening in the West Bank. Further action is certainly needed and what we’re doing is not enough.
[Translation]
Senator Gerba: Welcome, and thank you for your presentations, which are always very moving, because this isn’t the first time we’ve welcomed you here. We’ve also welcomed your colleagues from other organizations who have witnessed suffering, just as you have.
We have noted that you are still registered and active in Gaza. However, other organizations have told us how difficult it is to leave Gaza when there is no other choice but to do so. Do you think you will be able to continue your activities in the future? If not, what options are available to you to continue working safely?
[English]
Ms. Al-Awqati: I will start with the latter part. We are not operating in a safe manner today. We haven’t been operating in a safe manner for a long time. That speaks to our intent to stay, as humanitarian organizations and as organizations that are working with Palestinian organizations as well, with Palestinian partner organizations.
Our staff on the ground are part of this crisis and this genocide in that they experience it every day. I don’t think it’s a choice for them. I don’t think humanitarian imperative is a choice for them. But for us as organizations, we will continue to remain. We will stay. We will deliver for as long as we’re able to physically and we will continue to look at ways to continue this delivery, directly or through partner organizations. The reality is, every time we hit a new low, we think that’s it, but it just gets worse. It is really hard to tell where we will be in a few months, in six months, in a year’s time.
Ms. Bridger: If I can elaborate on that just for a moment. Like my colleague Dalia said, it’s impossible to plan entirely for what is to come. That being said, our staff are doing their best to do so. We have contingency plans built on contingency plans that are reliant on other contingency plans for what could happen.
I would say that if you had asked us two years ago what our contingency plan for this crisis would be, those have been blown out of the water for what we have had to deal with. That being said, referencing a previous question in the last session as well, we do have support networks throughout surrounding countries as well that are actively involved in this. So we are working on the ground to the very best of our ability and will continue to do so as long as we have staff, as long as we have supplies. As long as there is that potential, we will continue. But we will still support, even if we have to do so from afar. The contingency planning allows every single opportunity to be explored, but we cannot do so in an effective or safe manner at this point.
Senator Ravalia: Thank you very much to all of you for being here. If I could continue in the same vein as Senator Gerba and pose my question to Mr. Robitaille.
Your working conditions right now are near impossible. You’ve had significant losses in terms of aid workers. Those who are on the ground themselves facing starvation. Daily, there’s a personal vulnerability for those of your ground workers. How long can this be sustained? Are you able to recruit? How can individuals who themselves are barely able to survive continue to provide aid to those in this catastrophic situation?
Mr. Robitaille: Thank you so much for the question. Indeed, it is really incredible to witness the heroic nature of the people that are on the ground. We are working in the occupied Palestinian territory since 1973. We have 290 staff, consultants, casual workers and aid partners just in Gaza and many more in the West Bank. So we have seen escalation. To this extent, never. To the extent of staff being killed to this level, never.
But what is incredible is their determination to continue. If we are granted access, we will have many more will be coming from outside. We are doing everything that is possible and impossible to continue to provide.
Just to build on the so-called GHF, we used to have hundreds of points of distribution with lists and capacity to have a real relationship with everyone that was receiving aid. What is the alternative of having people that have to walk for 2 kilometres to go get some food under bullets. It is absolutely inhumane. This is not humanitarian work. So our organization will continue as much as is possible, but with all the constraints as you’re saying.
Senator Ravalia: Mr. Robitaille, what feedback are you getting on the proposed 20-point peace plan? Is there some ray of hope at this moment?
Mr. Robitaille: It comes with some hope, but more fear and the empathic nature. When you’re lacking food, you become numb as well. When you’re aggressed and displaced and the people are so tired and they’ve heard so many times some news of peace just to be disappointed once again. I think at this time it’s all the people and all the children that we’re talking to that are traumatized by this situation. That’s mostly what we hear from the ground.
Senator Woo: Thank you so much for your testimony. I’d like to try and reconcile what we heard from Global Affairs Canada officials with what you’ve told us. What we heard from the humanitarian side of GAC is that $400 million of humanitarian aid has gone in. Presumably, a lot of that is channelled through your organizations, UNRWA and other aid organizations. But what we’ve heard from you is that much of that aid hasn’t actually gone to the people in Gaza, they’re stuck at the border, they’re stuck in transit somewhere.
Would it be accurate to say that the impressive-sounding amounts of aid that the government believes to have sent to Gaza actually hasn’t gone to them?
Mr. Robitaille: Indeed, it is kind of a fine line for answering that because the access problem we’re mentioning is a daily problem. We’re seeing as well the price of the delivery to increase rapidly. When you have no accessibility, you have to provide water to the people and buy it from local markets, so we’ve seen exponential prices. Therefore, we had to reduce the ambition of the activities that we were doing. But we have been reaching millions of people. We do have the contacts and the partners to do so at various scales during the response.
We do oftentimes have our own stock blocked but have some input from the UN. It’s a complex reality. We have impeding aid, but we are also responding.
Senator Woo: Would anyone else like to jump in?
Ms. Al-Awqati: One thing I would add to that is, yes, some of it is being obstructed, but not all aid is in the form of goods. We’re talking about a population, over 90% of which has been displaced, so essentially, it’s almost like pushing the reset button every few weeks. They’ve beyond spent their coping mechanisms. They’ve used up their coping mechanisms. A lot of people with jobs no longer have them, and industries barely work there.
So, yes, it’s a lot of aid. Yes, a significant amount is obstructed and continues to be obstructed, be it Canadian-funded or otherwise, but the reality is that so much more is needed.
Senator Woo: The need is so great.
Ms. Bridger: I think Ms. Al-Awqati covered part of what I was going to say. Yes, there are obstructions to aid, absolutely, and it’s a huge problem that we’re navigating and does limit our effectiveness with the Canadian investments that have been made here, but we also have other forms of aid delivery that go beyond the materials. We have psychosocial support staff that are partially funded by aid money as well, and they continue to be incredibly grateful to have a source of employment on the ground here.
The other point here is really just around how we are able to think outside the box about aid. The one thing that I will commend Global Affairs Canada for in terms of their partnership on this is their understanding of flexibility in donors. As a donor, we are able to adapt, and we are able to be agile and responsive to the evolving situation. That’s something that we can’t say from all donors, but we have seen it from Global Affairs Canada.
Senator Adler: I’d like to pose the question to Mary Bridger, but I’m open to anybody else dealing with this.
Naturally, the headlines are the children, the women, the civilians and the humanitarian workers who have been killed and maimed, but if you don’t mind, I’m also very concerned about our Canadian humanitarian workers down there.
How do you tell — and if you can personalize this as you did at the beginning of our discussion, I think that would be most effective for Canadians who are watching and listening to this, and for our senators here and our staff — a humanitarian worker, who is absolutely spent and traumatized by all the things that we’ve discussed, to please come home and get some help?
Ms. Bridger: I’m happy to answer that to some degree and then I will also turn to my colleagues.
CARE operates on a model where we prioritize delivering through our local partners and local staff. We have some international staff that are supporting those operations. Frankly, they are struggling to gain access right now to activities on the ground. They’re having a lot of issues with these obstructive barriers around registration, entry points, and visas.
Our Canadian staff and our international staff are not often the ones that are on the ground delivering in this moment. Previously, yes, and they stand ready to, but in this moment, we are seeing the heavy impact falling more on local delivery partners and our Palestinian staff, part of the CARE Palestine team.
That being said, their need for psychosocial supports to continue the critical work that they’re doing is incredibly high regardless of what nationality they are. As to our own organization — I can’t speak across the board; I could probably speak to these colleagues here — we do provide as much psychosocial support as we possibly can as a major humanitarian focused organization, but it’s never going to be sufficient for what they’re coping with. The ask to them is incredibly high, and it amazes me how they continue to step forward and, essentially at this point, volunteer to continue doing this work.
I’ll turn to any of my colleagues who also want to answer.
Mr. Robitaille: Duty of care is a prime concern for our organizations. Anyone that is going, as Ms. Bridger was saying, needs to volunteer and do it willingly. It goes with a lot of preparation and a lot of debriefing as well on the way back.
I know some Canadians from other organizations that are coming back and sharing and giving testimony of what they did and said. The surprising thing is that they are going back.
For us as humanitarians, and I think we at the table have been doing that for more than 20 years, it is a call of duty for going back, but for our organization, we have to take into consideration the safety not only of the international staff going in, obviously, but all of the staff, the ones that I was mentioning that are displaced with a family. We’re trying to help them with cash, with support at times of need, and it’s a continuous negotiation to ensure that we are deconflicting all the operations that we’re doing, that we are recognizing, as international humanitarian law prescribes, the activities we are doing on a daily basis.
Senator Wilson: Your middle call to action that you had for us was ensuring humanitarian aid. This may be a difficult question for you to answer in this forum, and I would respect that. I think we’re all immensely frustrated with the inability to see proper aid get into Gaza. Outside this room, you probably have conversations around the kitchen table about some ideas about how that could practically happen.
Specifically on that issue, what do you think Canada could be doing differently to actually be able to move the dial?
Ms. Al-Awqati: The provision of humanitarian assistance is not conditional on a ceasefire. It’s not conditional on political agreements. The provision of humanitarian assistance, the protections of humanitarian workers, health facilities, are all part of international humanitarian law.
I really hope for the sake of my colleagues in Palestine and Gaza, Palestinians or otherwise, that something good materializes soon, but the reality is that Canada had an obligation and continues to have an obligation to use every channel available. We’re talking about diplomatic measures and economic levers just to ensure that Israel actually applies international law, so that the violations of international law stop regardless of a political arrangement.
What we’ve seen over the past two years is political arrangements, international aid, and humanitarian assistance specifically, has been conditioned on political agreements and ceasefire negotiations. That is not the case. It has never been the case anywhere else in the world.
It really is using those diplomatic measures. It really is promoting accountability in every forum and in every way possible.
I go back to my comments earlier about creating a culture of impunity. If we link humanitarian assistance and aid solely to political agreements, then we provide the pretext for this impunity and that is just not supposed to be the case. We’re creating a very dangerous precedent here, and if it continues, we will see this role through every crisis and context.
Ms. Bridger: As much as we are all very hopeful for a ceasefire, and that it’s absolutely an essential step in this process, it is a step in this process because a ceasefire without the other restrictions and obstructions lifted for aid delivery is not going to see change on the ground.
We can have a ceasefire tomorrow, but as long as aid remains blockaded, and as long as organizations remain unable to actually operate in the circumstances freely, and as long as we are continually being given barrier after barrier and hurdles to jump over, then we are not going to address the famine, and we are not going to be able to provide the critical medical care.
A ceasefire is incredibly important to that process, but we need to see those follow-on actions happen immediately and as a part of that process.
Senator Al Zaibak: A few weeks ago, I watched a documentary called The Voice of Hind Rajab. I was struck by the fact that apparently health workers and ambulances — it was documented by the Red Crescent or Red Cross — would require a clearance from the army or permission from the military that has caused the damage, inflicting death and killing of families and destroying homes, requiring their permission to go and save lives. And when they get that permission, after 36 hours or so, they are bombed when they are few minutes away from the victim they are trying to save.
Is that the norm in any other conflict where the health workers and the aid workers require permission before they provide their aid?
Ms. Bridger: I cannot speak to the norm for ambulance permissions and things of that sort. I know that when it comes to our own clinic operations, it requires heavy coordination with — I wouldn’t say coordination with Israel; it requires a large degree of permissions and registrations and everything for us to operate, even on a basic level of care. As I mentioned in my statement, we have seen those partner clinics being bombed. We have seen our health care workers being murdered.
Absolutely, we jump through these hoops to provide medical care as civil society organizations that are already registered. We still go through all of these hoops, and we are still seeing death and destruction that comes as a result of that. While I can’t speak to specific ambulance dynamics, I can speak to the medical context.
Senator Al Zaibak: It is a similar situation.
Ms. Bridger: Yes.
Ms. Galland-Jarrett: I wanted to add, I think this is part of what my colleague Mary referred to earlier as what makes this situation unprecedented. We are seeing a questioning and dismantling of a system that has worked in every other conflict context, and here we’re seeing obstruction after obstruction in different ways to limit the support to civilians and to target civilians.
The Deputy Chair: That is round 1. We’ll go to round 2.
I have four senators on the list, and we have a little over 10 minutes. Perhaps I would ask senators to pose their questions in groups of two and have the response, so that we’ll hear first the questions from Senator Coyle and Senator Ataullahjan, have the response and then hear from the last two senators.
Senator Coyle: In the briefing we had this summer, which was really helpful, we had a Canadian journalist but working for Agence France-Presse, and as we know, foreign journalists are not allowed into Gaza. We all know that public opinion is so critical for governments to be motivated to act in certain ways, and he felt that if there were an Anderson Cooper or an Adrienne Arsenault, or in the old days, an Ann Medina reporting on site that this would really open things up and more Canadians would know what you’re telling us today and they would be motivated to not accept this anymore and to push.
Have you seen any efforts by any of the foreign partners that you’re working with in diplomatic channels and others to try to get those openings for foreign journalists into Gaza? Have you seen whether there has been any movement in that direction?
The Deputy Chair: Senator Ataullahjan, will you pose your question and then we’ll have a response to both.
Senator Ataullahjan: I feel — maybe I’m wrong — that there’s generally a lack of sympathy for the Palestinian people. What’s driving that? We sit and argue about whether 21,000 children have been killed or 64,000 — as far as I’m concerned, one child killed is too many. Children are innocent; they don’t know anything about the conflict.
What’s driving this lack of sympathy?
The Deputy Chair: Let’s hear from Ms. Bridger on both if you could.
Ms. Bridger: I think I can tie them both together; I have faith. But I’ll certainly try and answer them individually as well. I think the problem and the answer that’s illuminated in those questions are misinformation. This is a really new dynamic in terms of the level of misinformation and the level of problems in getting the correct information out and the correct information covered.
I think that, to Senator Coyle’s original point, the journalists not being able to be on the ground and not being able to report is creating this opportunity for misinformation to some degree. That being said, I haven’t seen in my circles where there has been that coordinated effort to get journalists in. Our focus has been on aid for the most part so we haven’t been engaging in that as much.
That being said, the one thing I would say about there being a lack of journalists or the attacks on local journalists that are there is that it’s creating an increased burden actually on our teams in many cases, because our teams, who are trained as psychosocial providers, are trained in aid delivery and are trained in logistics operations are now being given this responsibility to report as well, and to get the message out from Gaza, something that they were not trained to do.
I will say they are doing it in such a commendable way, but they shouldn’t have to be doing that on top of the insurmountable challenges they are faced with in their actual roles.
That is the challenge, and I think it leads to your point, senator, around where the sympathy is, perhaps, lacking in this situation. I think it comes down to the fact that, despite the fact that we are seeing a genocide livestreamed over cell phone videos, it is easy for people to dismiss because there aren’t foreign journalists that are necessarily reporting in some ways.
There is a broader issue around where the lack of sympathies may be, but I think that is one component of it, is this struggle to get information out through the traditional means.
The Deputy Chair: Thank you. Last two questions.
Senator Dean: Briefly, the September 29, 2025, 20-point peace plan to end the Gaza conflict is getting some traction. One of the things that it proposes is an international stabilization force that would be, among other things, used to support and train Palestinian police.
Given your descriptions and the descriptions of other witnesses today about the scope of the issues that we’re dealing with, we probably need something with more heft and credibility than that.
Would you support a rapid response, multilateral peacekeeping force, potentially led by Canada — we have experience — to enforce the end of hostilities, to get food distributed quickly and to make an effort to end the further expansion of illegal settlements? In short, I’m saying that there’s not a whole lot of point in taking the military contractors from the so-called food distribution sites and shuffling them over to the international stabilization forces proposed. We need something more credible than that. Your responses, please?
Senator Woo: The organizations work in Ukraine as well as in Palestine. Do you see a difference in the way that Canada and the international community are responding to the atrocities in Ukraine compared to the way we have been responding to atrocities in Palestine?
Ms. Bridger: We are working in Ukraine. There has been a huge response, or a huge difference in the response which we could probably have an entirely different session on.
The first point I’ll get to initially around the role of a stabilization force, it’s certainly not something we are in a position to comment extensively on.
The only thing I would say is, I think for maximum effectiveness and to ensure this is done in a way that demonstrates expertise across years of humanitarian crises — and shows community-level prioritization — I would love to ensure we have civil society and UN representatives on there. I do not think this can be entirely militarized.
I will also see if my colleagues want to jump in.
Ms. Galland-Jarrett: I can only second what my colleague has said.
I think while it is not for us, as a humanitarian organization, to comment in detail, for sure. We have a system that works when it comes to the delivery of humanitarian aid, and it has worked in every other context. We believe that’s the system we should be investing in.
On the question on Ukraine, what we can say is Canada has shown leadership for children in Ukraine, has chaired bodies, alliances and worked with other member states of the UN to champion and spotlight, for example, the situation of children who have been forcibly removed to Russia. We commend that leadership.
That’s the kind of leadership we would love to see not just for specific children in one context but across all contexts and crises. That is tied into respect for and upholding international humanitarian law, that Canada can be a leader in that space. We would like to see that applied consistently and, therefore, in its consistent application also to children in Gaza.
Ms. Al-Awqati: I agree with what my colleagues have shared. I would add we do commend the way Canada has responded to the violations that have happened in Ukraine and against Ukranians.
Canada has taken clear, decisive action in the case of Ukraine. We do not see the same range of action being applied in the case of Gaza. We do not see the same range of action being applied in the case of the West Bank or, more generally, the occupied Palestinian territory.
Mr. Robitaille: If I can say something, it’s also from previous questions, to answer the question of the number of children — I believe that, when it was mentioned, 60,000, it was also including maimed children. We are taking the information from the government media office in Gaza. That’s the most up to date. Also to say, and to the point that it’s difficult to report, but the medical journal The Lancet said 40% higher in general in the first nine months of the figures we have seen.
We have estimates. What is difficult to estimate is the total number of people killed indirectly, and that’s three to fifteen times more that are under the rubble who are suffering.
I’m tying it as well to what we see in Ukraine, is you have journalists on the ground. What we see in Ukraine is people are also going in and out, and there is information.
In Gaza, it is circled and we have less and less place for humanitarian action, for witnessing and being able to be accountable to what is actually happening.
The Deputy Chair: Colleagues, this brings this panel to a close. I wish to thank our witnesses for appearing yet again. Tragically, I suspect we will be back.
I would also like to use this occasion, if I could, colleagues, to — through you — thank your organizations for the work you are doing on the ground. It brings us pride. Thank you.
(The committee adjourned.)