QUESTION PERIOD — Global Affairs
Humanitarian Aid
November 9, 2023
Senator Gold, Canada is providing financial aid to Gaza through a series of what the Trudeau government calls “trusted partners.” These are the same partners who operated in Gaza for years when Canadian aid ended up in the pockets of Hamas operatives. They include World Vision, whose manager of Gaza operations was convicted of funnelling millions of dollars of aid money and resources to Hamas. Yet here we are again sending Canadian financial aid — taxpayers’ money — to World Vision and other organizations.
My question is this: What measures have been put into place by this government to make sure that when Canadians’ hard-earned taxpayer money is sent to provide aid in Gaza or other areas of the world, that money doesn’t end up in the pockets of terrorist organizations like Hamas?
It is my understanding, senator, that the Canadian aid, which is designed to assist the people in Gaza, is directed to organizations that are monitored and audited — that are monitored; I don’t want to use a technical term misleadingly — and that measures are in place to ensure, to the best of the government’s ability, that the funds are not diverted.
Hamas is a terrorist organization. It is a worldwide sponsor of terrorism. Its barbarity was celebrated by Hamas to the repulsion of all decent human beings. Canada provides aid to the citizens of Gaza who themselves are victims — and in many ways hostages — of this terrorist organization, and will continue to do so in pursuit of its humanitarian principles.
The reason Canadian dollars end up in the hands of terrorists more often than not — and have in the past — is because when our auditors audit the trusted partners, as we call them, they can only audit so far up until that partner subcontracts the work to another entity, at which point the auditors cannot carry out their work.
Everyone knows this. The government knows this. Has the government taken steps in order to put an end to this practice? When we go through these trusted partners, do we insist that they execute the work and not subcontract the work, which leads to Canadian dollars going into the hands of terrorists like Hamas?
I have been advised that the government takes all appropriate and possible measures to ensure that the aid reaches those whom it is designed and intended to assist: civilians in Gaza or, indeed, elsewhere in the world where many citizens are subject to non-democratic — sometimes autocratic — governments.
