Canada announces $19.5 million in funding for reconstruction efforts in Haiti

From: Global Affairs Canada

News release

February 16, 2022 - Ottawa, Ontario - Global Affairs Canada

Canada has been a friend and partner of Haiti for many years, and it stands in solidarity with Haiti as the country continues to face a multi-dimensional crisis, as well as the impacts of the earthquake of August 14, 2021.

Today, the Honourable Harjit S. Sajjan, Minister of International Development and Minister responsible for the Pacific Economic Development Agency of Canada, represented Canada at the International Event for the Financing of the Reconstruction of the Southern Peninsula of Haiti, in which the international community addressed the country’s acute humanitarian crisis, which has been worsened due to the earthquake.

Canada remains committed to supporting Haitian-led efforts to restore peace and prosperity for all Haitians and for earthquake-affected communities in particular. In this regard, Minister Sajjan today announced international assistance in the amount of $19.5 million for 4 projects. This funding builds on the $50.4 million in funding that Canada announced at last month’s foreign ministers’ meeting on Haiti, which Canada hosted to underscore its solidarity with Haiti.

The international assistance announced today will specifically contribute to supporting earthquake victims and post-disaster rehabilitation and to improving integrated health services for women, adolescent girls and children.

Minister Sajjan expressed Canada’s solidarity with Haiti and the Haitian people during these challenging times and reaffirmed the importance of addressing growing insecurity and of empowering women and girls to allow the country to bounce back stronger than before and achieve sustainable results. 

The funding announced today includes:

  • $4.5 million in humanitarian assistance to protect vulnerable Haitians and provide food assistance
  • $1 million to improve integrated health services for women, adolescent girls and children in earthquake-affected areas
  • $4 million to support post-disaster rehabilitation efforts in earthquake-affected areas
  • $10 million to strengthen the security sector

Quotes

“We must continue to work together to build greater resilience and restore peace and prosperity in Haiti for stronger, safer and healthier communities there.”

- Harjit S. Sajjan, Minister of International Development and Minister responsible for the Pacific Economic Development Agency of Canada

Quick facts

  • Canada and Haiti officially established diplomatic relations in 1954 and have continued to maintain strong diplomatic ties ever since.

  • Canada hosted a foreign ministers’ meeting on Haiti in January during which Canada announced $50.4 million in funding for 9 initiatives that support health services for Haitians, strengthen Haiti’s security and infrastructure, support sexual and reproductive health and rights and help address food insecurity and other humanitarian challenges.

  • In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Canada has provided $500,000 in funding to the Pan American Health Organization and reallocated $12.6 million to address the ensuing health crisis. Through the World Food Programme, Canada has also provided additional funding of $10 million aimed at strengthening the food resilience of populations that have been made more vulnerable by the impacts of the pandemic.

  • For nearly 30 years, Canada has contributed to every UN peace mission to Haiti to support stabilization and reconstruction efforts. These contributions have included financial assistance and the deployment of members of the Canadian Armed Forces and of the RCMP, as well as correctional officers.

  • Since the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, Canada has provided $1.8 billion in funding to Haiti. Canada is the second-largest bilateral donor to Haiti after the United States. Canada’s current annual budget for development assistance for Haiti—approximately $89 million—makes Haiti the largest recipient of Canada’s aid in the Americas.

  • Over the years, relations between the 2 countries have been strengthened by their geographical proximity, their common language of French, the growth of a substantial Haitian community in Canada (now numbering more than 165,000 people) and the ongoing presence of Canadian development organizations in Haiti.

  • Canada and Haiti work together in international organizations, including the UN, the Organization of American States, the Caribbean Community and the International Organisation of La Francophonie.

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Contacts

Yentl Béliard-Joseph
Press Secretary
Office of the Minister of International Development
Yentl.Beliard-Joseph@international.gc.ca

Media Relations Office
Global Affairs Canada
media@international.gc.ca
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