The government of Canada - through Global Affairs Canada - has long been among the major financial supporters of The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). The 75 year-old United Nations agency has a yearly budget that's grown to more than 900 million US dollars, and has long been accused of antisemitism, corruption, and complicity in war crimes.
At various points, The Netherlands, Switzerland and the US had all felt compelled to suspend payments to the UNRWA over related concerns. While Canada did not, I'm curious to know what the quarter billion dollars that Canada has donated to UNRWA since 2016 was used for and what safeguards the government has imposed to ensure we're not facilitating criminal or genocidal behavior.
In fact, the official record of Canada's parliament includes the unanimous agreement of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development from Thursday, February 4, 2021, when they declared:
"That the committee express its deep concern about certain educational materials circulated to students by UNRWA during the pandemic in error that violates the values of human rights, tolerance, neutrality and non-discrimination, at a time when UNRWA is receiving funding from the Government of Canada, and report this motion to the House"
It’s noteworthy that the final version of the text included the phrase "in error". That addition was not agreed to unanimously, because it would suggest that the copious educational material openly promoting extreme nationalism and violence against Jews somehow only found its way into classrooms by accident. In the end, 4 of the 11 members of the committee opposed the phrase.
The motion was originally inspired by a report published by the Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education (IMPACT-se). The report documented many instances of the glorification and promotion of violent Jihad, martyrdom, and terrorism within UNRWA educational materials.
As it turns out, it's now clear that not only was the content created by UNRWA and included in their curricula by design, but it's still being printed and widely taught in UNRWA schools (when they're operational). The agency's only practical response to the criticism was to remove references from their public-facing website.
Further research by IMPACT-se in the aftermath of the October 7 attacks has revealed how, for instance, "13 UNRWA staff members have publicly praised, celebrated or expressed their support for the unprecedented deadly assaults on civilians." The report also documents how at least 18 UNRWA graduates have "died carrying out acts of terror."
Of course, our concerns go far beyond education. Since the start of Israel’s land offensive in Gaza, it’s become painfully obvious that UNRWA schools and hospitals have been used as rocket launching areas, weapons storage facilities, and access points for Hamas military tunnels - all clear war crimes. It’s difficult to imagine how a reasonable person could conclude that UNRWA officials - and those providing program oversight - were not aware of those violations.
Global Affairs Canada - at least in its public statements - hasn’t ignored the problem. In June of 2023, they announced that:
“Canada will remain closely engaged with UNRWA and continue to exercises (sic) enhanced due diligence for all humanitarian and development assistance funding for Palestinians. This work includes ongoing oversight, regular site visits, a systematic screening process and strong anti-terrorism provisions in funding agreements.”
The problem is that subsequent credible revelations have demonstrated that the “oversight” and “regular site visits” promised by Global Affairs Canada either never happened, or were an embarrassing failure.
Canadians have a right to know how their money is spent. It would be helpful if the government, and Global Affairs Canada in particular, would at the very least tell us exactly how they’re going to fix this mess.
Good article, keep it up!