More than ever, youth must matter in Canadian politics and policy
We have hit a generational tipping point in Canadian political engagement. Millennials have the potential to be the largest generation voting in the 2019 election, and youth voter turnout is on the rise. The Indigenous population in Canada is young and rapidly expanding; nearly half of Indigenous peoples in Canada are under the age of […]
Building community resilience in Nicaragua: Canadian development assistance at work
This past January, I was very privileged to be invited by the Canada Foodgrains Bank to accompany other Canadian Members of Parliament to visit Nicaragua to witness some of the community agriculture projects supported by the Canadian government. This work is supported by non-governmental organizations, including the Canadian Foodgrains Bank, USC Canada, and the World […]
Canada must lead by example on foreign aid
Davos seems to have generated various announcements this year again. Canada has made public its commitment to dedicate $60-million per year to the Global Partnership for Education, the organization that coordinates the international community’s efforts to put every child in school. It is an improvement over previous years, but, at less than two dollars per […]
What the Aga Khan Foundation does with Canadian government money
On the day the Bamyan hospital first opened its doors, 12 women arrived in various stages of labour. In Afghanistan, where pregnancy kills one of every 52 women, giving life can be a death sentence. But the chances of survival for these 12 women dramatically increased when they walked through the new hospital’s front doors. […]
Kudos to Trudeau for education funding
Full kudos goes to Justin Trudeau’s Liberals for their recent pledge to the Global Partnership for Education of $180-million over three years. This couldn’t have come at a better time, with United States President Donald Trump’s recent slashing of more than half of America’s funding to the United Nations agency that runs schools for Palestinian children. […]
How Canada can return to democracy-building abroad
“Is Canada an essential country at this time in the life of our planet?” asked Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland in her major foreign policy address to the House in June. There is one area where opportunities to demonstrate this abound. In November, Robert Mugabe, the widely detested president of Zimbabwe, was forced from office. His […]
Canada is missing an opportunity to help women
Lillian Wambui has a passion for passionfruit. She runs a successful business selling the nutritious fruit and other excess produce from her farm in the Maai Mahiu region of Kenya, near Lake Naivasha. With food from her farm and income from her market business, Wambui’s six children are well-fed and healthy—and she looks to the […]
G7 is Canada’s chance to ‘galvanize’ action on feminist policy: World Vision
When Canada takes the stage as host of June’s G7 Summit, the Liberals should take advantage of the “international moment” to encourage action on education of girls in crisis, according to the head of World Vision Canada. But opposition critics warn any promises made would be coming from a government with a history of “not […]
Only the poor die screaming
LONDON, U.K.—If you had a million dollars to spend (but not on yourself), where would it do the most good? Well, the cost to cover morphine or a morphine-equivalent pain-relief treatment for all the sick children younger than 15 years who are in serious pain in low-income countries would be just $1-million per year. About […]
The other Myanmar
MYITKYINA, MYANMAR—Scrambling past crippled dogs is a legless beggar approaching a table of people dining at a restaurant. Hands outstretched, with cataract-filled eyes, he looks up as he’s handed a dirty 50 kyat note, the equivalent of about a nickel. It’s lunch hour in this city of a few hundred thousand in Kachin state, in […]
