The federal government has pledged financial support for global aid through the Canadian Foodgrains Bank for another three years.
“Every child has a gift to offer this world and have an impact, but what they don’t have is the opportunity that we have here,” said Harjit S. Sajjan, minister of international development in an online news conference on Dec. 6.
“We will help ourselves when we help these kids because you never know what kind of gifts these kids can offer this world, or to their community,” he said.
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Sajjan announced $75 million in funding over three years for the Canadian Foodgrains Bank, which replaces a previous, expired grant of $125 million over five years.
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused the single largest increase in global hunger ever recorded, said Sajjan. Canada is committed to relieving hunger, he said, particularly among women and girls who are often the ones who plant, harvest and cook the food but often get less to eat.
It’s “absolutely tragic and unconscionable” how many people experience hunger, said Foodgrains Bank supporter Jan McIntyre, who farms with her family near Clearwater, Man. “These are people like you and I.”
Helping them honours our shared humanity around the world, said McIntyre. She added she’s glad the Foodgrains Bank shows respect and dignity to people by working with local organizations in areas they wish to bring aid.
“Since (the Foodgrains Bank’s) beginning in 1983, the Government of Canada has funded food assistance projects in 68 countries through financial contributions to the Foodgrains Bank,” said executive director Andy Harrington in a Dec. 6 news release.
“We and our members are immensely grateful for the additional impact the grant allows us to have in the work of delivering emergency food assistance around the world,” he added.
