Political Ideology Interferes with International Aid Policy

The current government of Canada through the party in power in Ottawa has made a mockery of their recently imposed policy of total control over the ability of international aid programs to assist the world's most vulnerable people. Kairos, a group of prominent Canadian churches, was abruptly told by the conservative government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper that their funding had been cancelled for 2010. No meaningful explanation was given at the time except the vague comment that the organization no longer met the funding criteria of the Canadian International Development Agency's (CIDA) priorities of providing food security and helping youth.

The treatment of this organization by the government of Canada is not acceptable and the public needs to speak out persistently in support of Kairos and other organizations that bring relief to millions of people in undeveloped countries around the globe.

Accusations against Kairos appear to be greatly unjustified in the face of the limited explanation by government and the immediate defense offered by Kairos Executive Director, Mary Corkery. From the limited response from government it appears that the government was misguided in its claim to crack down on anti-Semitism, a charge that Immigration Minister, Jason Kenney, made at a conference in Jerusalem over a week ago when he stated that Kairos was promoting a boycott of Israeli corporations and products. This accusation was denied by Kairos.

If this is the rationale by the Canadian government for withdrawing funding to Kairos then it appears that any injustice is possible when false accusations are made to support a right wing agenda. What has happened is that an important financial aid program has been compromised and government actions have interfered with the delicate work being done by Kairos. Furthermore, this action has cast a shadow over other Canadian international development agencies carrying out similar work across the Globe.

We have a government in Canada that states that our own economic prosperity trumps international aid to the world's poorest. A government that anticipates that speaking out about injustices is a recipe for withdrawal of financial support. International aid organizations will now be concerned that by speaking out about injustices which they observe will result potentially in withdrawal of vital financial support. This is the old problem of social policy coming in conflict with the reality of injustice. The question is: Can an organization that receives funding from government openly criticize the funding source?

Some would argue that the funder has this right to choose since it does not want to be seen as supporting an injustice. It’s a delicate balance for the funder and especially for a government that supposedly represents the people and spends their tax dollars. However, the problem is who defines the injustice? This again depends on the ideology of the funding decision maker or their blatant miscalculation of events. In the case of Kairos it appears to be both.