The serious consequences of land degradation across the globe are now known—the resulting food insecurity, poverty, conflict and forced migration already affect 2 billion people. In the next few decades, desertification could create up to 135 million climate refugees.
Canada believes economic growth that works for everyone cannot be achieved without the full and equal participation of women. Yet women entrepreneurs in developing countries lack access to capital and face discriminatory laws that prevent them from growing their businesses.
Canada’s progressive trade agenda promotes more women entrepreneurs gaining access to every facet of our economy. It also means championing gender equality within trade agreements to ensure that economic growth benefits everyone and empowers women and girls to help build a more inclusive, peaceful and prosperous world.
The Honourable Chrystia Freeland, Minister of Foreign Affairs, today concluded her participation at the Organization of American States General Assembly in Washington, D.C.
Advancing gender equality is the most effective approach to eradicating extreme poverty and building a more peaceful, inclusive and prosperous world. Recent estimates indicate that countries are losing $160 trillion in wealth because of differences in lifetime earnings between women and men. Canada and its G7 partners have a shared commitment to strengthening the empowerment of women and girls in development policy and international assistance.
Canada and its G7 partners recognize that the ambitious push needed to accelerate progress toward the achievement of global sustainable development objectives requires a step change in both the quantity and quality of financing for development, as well as the full and equal participation of women.
Global Affairs Canada is pleased to once again take part in Doors Open Ottawa on Saturday, June 2, 2018. The public will be invited into the Lester B. Pearson Building to learn about some of the key programs and services of Global Affairs Canada and what they offer to the public. They will be able to see exhibits about Canada’s missions and embassies abroad, visit the Jules Léger Library, learn about Canada’s international treaties and find out more about the Lester B. Pearson Building itself.
The Honourable Chrystia Freeland, Minister of Foreign Affairs; the Honourable Harjit S. Sajjan, Minister of National Defence; the Honourable Ralph Goodale, Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness; and the Honourable Marie-Claude Bibeau, Minister of International Development and La Francophonie, today issued the following statement on the International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers
Canada has become a global champion of gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls, both at home and abroad. In launching the Feminist International Assistance Policy in 2017, Canada committed to expand innovative partnerships that have the greatest potential to close gender gaps and eliminate barriers to gender equality in order to effectively reduce poverty and support women’s rights movements and organizations in developing countries.