Posts Tagged 'DFATD'

HomeTag: DFATD

Iraq, ISIL and Canada’s Role

Iraq, ISIL and Canada’s Role

McLeod Group Blog, December 15, 2014

It has been several weeks since the deployment of Canadian military assets in Iraq, primarily aged CF-18 fighter aircraft, to be part of the anti-ISIL coalition. It is not clear how Canadians feel about this latest projection of ‘Canadian values’ through the Harper government’s ‘principled’ foreign policy. It is clear, however, that the government’s claim that this is to be a six-month engagement cannot be taken seriously.

One especially murky aspect of the deployment is the ...

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North-South Institute Ends with a Whimper

McLeod Group Blog, September 11, 2014

The pain and suffering of the North-South Institute is over. After almost 40 years of high-quality, award-winning work, the NSI has capitulated to its Canadian government tormenters and is shutting down. The official communiqué announcing the decision said that the Institute “has not been successful in diversifying and growing its funding sources to the extent required to ensure financially sustainable operations.”

This is polite shorthand for what really happened. The NSI depended for most of ...

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Out of Focus: Canadian Aid Merry-Go-Round

Out of Focus: Canadian Aid Merry-Go-Round

McLeod Group Blog, July 4, 2014

To the extent that any of them take Canada seriously as an aid donor, our ‘focus’ countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America must be tearing their metaphorical hair out. Long criticized by the OECD for spreading Canadian aid too thin and over too many countries, the Harper government cut the number in 2009 from 25 to 20. Out went eight very poor countries in Africa and two in Asia. Perhaps thinking nobody was watching, ...

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Mr. Harper’s Maternal and Child Health Summit, Part 3: Delusions about International Leadership

McLeod Group Blog, May 27, 2014

Once again Canada’s development cooperation policies are being driven by domestic interests, not the development outcomes and the results the government claims to be seeking. We are going it alone and indeed this time even pretending that everybody else is following our lead. In truth, maternal and child health has been both a global and Canadian priority for decades, with an accelerated focus on reproductive health and rights following the 1994 UN Population conference in ...

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Paradis Shocker: NGOs Stunned

Paradis Shocker: NGOs Stunned

McLeod Group Blog, May 21, 2014

Christian Paradis, Canada’s Minister for International Development, surprised a great many people—stunned might be a better word–when he said this in an April press release:

“Canada recognizes and supports the vital role that civil society plays in reaching development objectives. Civil society engages citizens in their countries’ decision-making processes that affect them. Empowered by the fundamental rights of freedom of expression, association and assembly, civil society enables citizens to hold their governments to account, providing ...

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Better Data on Foreign Aid: Not the Same as Better Transparency

Better Data on Foreign Aid: Not the Same as Better Transparency

Guest Blog by Brian Tomlinson

May 7, 2014

 The International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI), launched in 2008 in Accra, aimed to make information about foreign aid spending easier to access, understand and use. It was and remains a noble ambition, well worth pursing for several reasons. First and foremost, access to information on the use of public resources for development cooperation is a citizen’s right. Understanding of the trends and policies affecting allocations of public resources for aid, including resources raised from ...

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Slip Sliding Away: Democracy and the Silencing of Civil Society Organizations

McLeod Group Blog, April 9, 2014

It may come as a surprise to many Canadians who follow global civil society issues to learn that Canada chairs the Community of Democracies’ Working Group on Enabling and Protecting Civil Society, a group that believes,

“An active, pluralistic civil society is an essential ingredient of a vibrant democratic political system. Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) are the primary vehicles through which people organize themselves to promote shared objectives and values and to convey their interests. ...

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Canada and Haiti: What is there to show from the last four years?

March 17, 2014

It is now more than four years since a devastating earthquake struck Haiti, killing over 200,000 and leaving over 3 million homeless. The poorest country in the Western hemisphere, at that point still recovering from hurricanes in 2008, saw the poorest segment of its population affected by an even more severe natural disaster.

The outpouring of sympathy and support from countries in the hemisphere, and beyond, was swift and massive. Governments pledged large amounts and sent relief teams, the ...

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Guile, Ambiguity and the Cult of Mediocrity

Guile, Ambiguity and the Cult of Mediocrity

January 21, 2014

On December 5, 2013, Canada’s International Development Minister (yes, there still is one) Christian Paradis spoke to the Montreal Board of Trade about the Harper Government’s approach to foreign aid. The speech was chock-full of myth, urban legend, half-truths and what can only be described as a bunch of whoppers.

Mr. Paradis began by saying, “I want us to be recognized as a world leader in poverty reduction and humanitarian assistance.” That may be what he wants, but ...

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Global Traders Need Partnerships, Not DFATD Hand-holding

December 12, 2013

The government’s new trade plan is not serious policy. It’s just repackaged old ideas, a crude political attempt to be seen to be doing something.

Let’s clarify the obvious. Canada needs to be a global trader and investor to remain a viable, competitive economy for the future. Critically, global market growth will not be in Europe or the US, but rather in developing countries with which we once had healthy trusting relationships as a development partner – something the ...

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