OTTAWA-
The federal government will expand matching donations to help those facing catastrophic flooding in Pakistan in hopes the crisis won’t fall under the public radar.
“I felt it didn’t get the (media) coverage that a crisis like this deserves,” International Development Minister Harjit Sajjan said in an interview on Thursday.
Heavy monsoon rains this summer have affected more than 33 million people, many of whom have needed emergency food, water, sanitation and health services.
More than a third of Pakistan was under water, including much of its farmland, which experts say will trigger a food shortage.
Sajjan said he saw devastating scenes during a visit to the country earlier this month.
“When I was flying over the affected areas, you literally couldn’t see the end,” he said.
“Countries that have contributed the least to climate change are actually now the most affected by it.”
On September 13, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that the federal government would match up to $3 million in donations made to the Humanitarian Coalition and its dozen member charities.
This matching campaign was due to end on Wednesday.
Sajjan said it will be extended and the amount is now capped at $5 million.
Ottawa had previously committed $30 million of its own expenses.
Sajjan said the idea was to meet the country’s immediate, intermediate and long-term needs, to ensure the right amount of aid dollars reached the right places.
“What we’re doing is funding in tranches, to make sure we’re assessing the needs in a timely manner so the resources can be there,” he said.
“Now that we have some breathing room, we are looking at the mid-term needs assessment.”
Canada will likely fund climate mitigation work in the country once it recovers, to reduce the impact of future flooding, Sajjan said.
He noted that Canada had helped fund the early warning system that officials said was essential to saving lives this summer.
This happened after the massive 2010 floods in Pakistan.
In less than a year, the former Harper government pledged $71.8 million for relief efforts, including $46.8 million from donations matched by Ottawa.
When asked why Canada is contributing just over a tenth of that amount, the Humanitarian Coalition said the funding matches the cost of past crises such as the 2021 earthquake. in Haiti.
“Admittedly, the amount of the match is modest, but it is within a recent range,” spokeswoman Marg Buchanan wrote.
She said the amounts are based on what humanitarian groups predict people will donate, “influenced by timing, waning media interest and other mainstream stories.”
NDP development critic Heather McPherson said the Liberals have been slow to deliver promised funding for other humanitarian initiatives.
She pointed to unspent funds in Ukraine and for reproductive health elsewhere.
“Their ads are starting to get a little thin; I don’t think people feel very reassured,” McPherson said.
The Conservatives have called on the government to allow cost sharing for more organizations responding to disasters, including the floods in Pakistan.
“It’s easier (for Ottawa) to say it’s going to match a contribution to this great player, than to say it’s going to match donations to all the organizations doing this work,” Garnett Genuis told the Commons. . this week.
“Organizations tell me that they get calls from past donors who say they were going to donate for what they were doing, but they actually want to donate to another organization that is matched.”
This report from The Canadian Press was first published on September 29, 2022.
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