IMG_1554Surrey: Nina Grewal, MP (Fleetwood-Port Kells), on behalf of the Hon. Christian Paradis, Minister of International Development and La Francophonie,  announced $5 million in humanitarian assistance to support the efforts of UNICEF in Somalia. The support will improve the health, well-being and protection of children, women and their families. “In light of the continuing humanitarian crisis in Somalia, Canada is answering the call to provide additional help,” said MP Grewal. “Canada’s support to UNICEF will help ensure Somali families get what they need to survive, including access to safe water, treatment for malnutrition, and essential vaccinations for children.” Maternal, newborn and child health is Canada’s top development priority. At the Saving Every Woman, Every Child Summit held in Toronto last May, Prime Minister Stephen Harper released the Toronto Statement, which reaffirmed global consensus on the way forward toward ending the preventable deaths of mothers, newborns and children under the age of five within a generation, and committed an additional $3.5 billion toward achieving that goal. “We welcome the Government of Canada’s generous support for the children, women and families of Somalia as we have a small but critical window to do what’s needed to prevent a repeat of the famine of 2011,” said David Morley, President and CEO of UNICEF Canada. “Somalia is at a crossroads with 50,000 children severely malnourished, including many at risk of death within weeks if they do not get the treatment they need.”

In another event MP Nina Grewal and Paul Calandra, Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister of Canada held a roundtable to discuss and share the Muskoka Intiative by the Federal government. Paul Calandra informed the media that Canadian government is now coordinating directly with the aid agencies working at grass root level and providing them with support not only monetary but also in terms of the tools  and things that they can effectively use to alleviate the suffering of people in certain regions of the world.