Study on Canada’s Interests and Engagement in Africa

Moved:

That the first report of the Standing Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade, entitled Canada‑Africa: Seizing a Strategic Opportunity, deposited with the Clerk of the Senate on Thursday, December 11, 2025, be adopted and that, pursuant to rule 12-23(1), the Senate request a complete and detailed response from the government, with the Minister of Foreign Affairs being identified as minister responsible for responding to the report, in consultation with the Minister of International Trade and the Secretary of State (International Development).

He said: Honourable senators, I rise today to begin debate on the first report of the Standing Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade, entitled Canada-Africa: Seizing a Strategic Opportunity, deposited with the Clerk of the Senate on December 11, 2025.

Colleagues, as you know, this report has been a long time coming, both in terms of Parliament addressing the significant issue of Canada’s vital relationship with the African continent — which successive governments have failed to do in a meaningful way — and due to the stops and starts this study endured at committee.

The committee received its first order of reference to study Canada’s interests and engagement in Africa on October 26, 2023, and began meetings with witnesses on December 7, 2023. Between that date and prorogation on January 6, 2025, the committee held 18 meetings with witnesses, ranging from Canadian and African government officials, including heads of mission, academics and experts from various fields, businesspeople and entrepreneurs, and representatives of civil society and non-governmental organizations.

Having been unable to discuss a draft report before the 2024 winter recess, and wanting to complete this important study, the committee sought a new order of reference at the start of this session of Parliament, which was adopted on October 7, 2025. Given the amount of time that had passed since the committee’s last meeting on the study on December 12, 2024, it held one final meeting with witnesses from Global Affairs Canada on October 30, 2025.

All told, the committee heard from more than 65 witnesses over 26 hours of testimony. The result is a thoughtfully prepared report, of which all committee members, and indeed all senators, can be proud. In particular, I wish to highlight the contributions of our colleague Senator Amina Gerba, who, as a longtime member of the committee, advocated strongly for this study before, during and since.

Senator, your dedication to strengthening the relationship between Canada and Africa comes across clearly in this report, and I thank you for that.

I also wish to thank the committee’s analysts, Brian Hermon and Zak Black, for their research and writing; the clerk, Chantal Cardinal, for the sometimes challenging task of coordinating witnesses, especially across different time zones, and for overseeing the production of the report; and the communications team, led by Sabryna Lemieux, for the graphic design and public promotion of the report.

A sincere thank you, also, to the staff of committee members who keep us on track — a job made easier for some staff than for others — and who ensure we are well prepared for committee meetings.

As stated in the report, the main conclusion reached by the committee is that Canada must fully engage in Africa or risk being left behind. Despite Africa’s expanding global role and impact, the committee heard that Canada has not adjusted its engagement with the continent accordingly, resulting in missed opportunities and the gradual erosion of its relevance in Africa.

Colleagues, this is the blunt reality for a country that likes to see itself as more impactful on the world stage than is really the case. For too long, Canada’s engagement in Africa has been largely as a donor of development assistance. While that help is still critical in many regions, the committee heard that Canada must move beyond just the donor-recipient relationship and engage with Africa as the dynamic, youthful and economically and geo-strategically influential continent that it is.

In discussing Canada’s relationship with Africa, we can also no longer rest on the leadership of the Mulroney government in ending apartheid in South Africa. That was in the late 1980s. Canada’s role in bringing that racist policy to a close is an important and meaningful part of our history with Africa, but it is a laurel on which we cannot rest.

A vital element of that period that must be carried forward, however, is the integral and coordinated role played by the Commonwealth in forcing South Africa to abandon apartheid. With 56 member countries, of which 21 are African, the Commonwealth serves as an important multilateral forum through which Canada — its second-largest donor — can engage with African countries and strengthen relationships.

Colleagues, this report outlines 21 wide-ranging recommendations based on the comprehensive testimony provided by witnesses. As always, I look forward to the government’s timely and thorough response after this report is adopted, which will come from the Minister for Foreign Affairs in consultation with the Minister of International Trade and the Secretary of State for International Development.

In the time I have left today, I wish to personally highlight recommendations 2, 5, 15, 19 and 21.

Recommendations 2 and 5 refer to a simple but fundamental reality. For Canada’s engagement in Africa to be credible, it must have both a solid policy foundation and a sustained diplomatic presence on the ground.

Regular, institutionalized dialogues with the African Union and a move toward meetings with heads of government are essential.

They ensure continuity and enable priorities to be aligned. In that regard, the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie is a major strategic asset for Canada’s engagement in Africa, one that is too often underestimated.

Of the 53 member states of the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie, 27 are African countries. Given Canada’s active role within the Francophonie, this represents a real comparative advantage for Canada, which is the second largest financial contributor to the institutions of the Francophonie. It is a natural, credible, and well-established bridge, a lever for aligning our priorities and embedding our action in networks that are deeply rooted on the continent. However, dialogue is not enough: It must be backed up by a real capacity on the ground.

It is essential to strengthen Canada’s engagement with the African Union and regional economic communities and to expand our network of missions on the continent.

Today, Canada has 27 diplomatic missions in Africa, significantly fewer than countries such as France and China, which have 57 and 53 embassies and consulates, respectively.

Furthermore, the committee already noted in its 2023 study on Canada’s foreign service that too many foreign service officers are assigned to HQ in Ottawa rather than abroad.

However, theirs are the skills that we need to see more of in the field. This is how Canada can gain the credibility and operational capacity needed to transform political exchanges into lasting partnerships.

As the government expects government entities such as the foreign service to do more with less, the government’s Africa Strategy includes no new money to implement it and track its progress. In fact, despite the launch of the strategy last March, Budget 2025 made no mention at all of Africa — a rather clear indication of the lack of priority the government places on Canada’s relationship with Africa.

Fortunately, Parliament understands the importance of the relationship, as the House of Commons Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development has also been holding meetings — three since last November — on Canada’s Africa Strategy.

Furthermore, while Canada’s engagement in Africa must move beyond a charity mindset, it is unfortunate that the government will spend $2.7 billion less on aid over the next four years to return to pre-pandemic levels.

It is especially troubling that aid budgets are being cut around the world at the same time the United States has chosen to abandon its global leadership role, which, in part, includes the shutdown one year ago of the United States Agency for International Aid, or USAID, which had immediate and devastating consequences in Africa.

Canada’s cuts include a decrease of 17% to Canada’s contribution to The Global Fund, which works to end AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, all of which are big problems in parts of Africa, with impacts on global health security. The drop last year was the first time in The Global Fund’s 20-year history that Canada decreased its donation. A reminder here that development assistance is not just money given to countries in need; it is an investment that benefits both receiving countries and donor countries.

Cutting international assistance budgets hurts rich countries such as Canada just as much as it hurts the developing countries helped by our financial contributions. With no new money, cuts to existing contributions and no real high-level political backing behind the government’s Africa Strategy, it is up to organizations, businesses and individuals — including parliamentarians — to push for a mutually beneficial partnership between Canada and Africa.

To that end, recommendations 15 and 19 encourage the government to provide more money to FinDev Canada and more support to Export Development Canada to foster more Canadian commercial engagement in Africa. As stated in the report, in the absence of robust public commitments to development spending, Canada needs to mobilize private finance and use existing international assistance resources as effectively as possible, including by identifying gaps in global funding, where Canada possesses a comparative advantage, and directing resources to those gaps.

In terms of FinDev Canada, which plays a vital role in supporting sustainable development in Africa, the committee heard that sub-Saharan Africa represents 40% of FinDev’s portfolio. However, while FinDev received $750 million from the government as part of the Indo-Pacific Strategy, there were no new funds for FinDev under the Africa Strategy.

Regarding Export Development Canada, or EDC, and in contrast to FinDev Canada, EDC’s work in Africa is limited, and the continent represents a disproportionately small portion of EDC’s business portfolio. Despite the significant benefit Canada would enjoy by deepening commercial engagement in Africa, the committee heard that, in 2023, EDC facilitated $1.4 billion in exports, foreign investment and trade development activities in Africa. Colleagues, that accounted for merely 1% of the total business facilitated by EDC globally in 2023.

For Canada’s relationship with Africa to take the next step and evolve toward its full potential, especially in the face of ever‑decreasing aid budgets, we must leverage the power of private finance and support agencies such as FinDev Canada and Export Development Canada in deepening Canadian commercial engagement in Africa. While money, for better or worse, makes the world go round, people-to-people connections are invaluable to building relationships, and that cannot happen if Africans continue to face barriers even entering Canada.

Recommendation 21 responds to a message the committee heard again and again: Canada’s visa system is too often an obstacle to building the relationships we need with Africa and Africans. Witnesses told the committee that scholars, business leaders and even government officials frequently face long, complex and discouraging processes to come to Canada to attend conferences and to participate in training and exchange programs. The limited visa processing capacity on the continent restricts high-level engagement and people-to-people connections across academia, the private sector and government.

That is why recommendation 21 calls on the government to review visa processing systems to ensure that timelines and service standards are fair and reasonable. This is as much a strategic recommendation as it is a practical one. If Canada wants to be a serious, trusted and long-term partner for Africa — and, as the report makes clear, Canada needs that — our systems must support connections, not constrain them.

Colleagues, a strong partnership with Africa based on mutual respect and shared prosperity is in the best interests of both sides. Make no mistake, Canada needs Africa just as much as, if not more than, Africa needs Canada. We must look beyond the paternalistic view of Africa as a monolith of poor countries in need of saving by the rich West. African countries compose a vibrant, dynamic, culturally and religiously diverse continent full of brilliant and talented people with whom Canada and Canadians can collaborate to build a thriving relationship that will benefit all sides.

Honourable senators, a strong, mutually beneficial partnership between Canada and Africa is not merely a wish list item; it is a strategic imperative for the 21st century that Canada must work toward with genuine resolve, lest we risk being left behind in a fast-changing world.

I thank colleagues in both houses of Parliament for recognizing this necessity and hope the government will act swiftly on the committee’s recommendations. Thank you.

Of course.

Thank you for the question, Senator Cormier.

I believe there are systems already in place for promoting Canadian culture and the French language. However, in times of budget cuts, often the cultural programs are some of the first to go.

In the case of Africa, I believe that we are talking about 54 countries, including English-speaking, French-speaking, Portuguese‑speaking, and other countries. Major efforts are being made with the resources available to the government to do what is necessary. Cultural policy leads to the use of the French language in French-speaking African countries.