Security beyond defence

Dear Editor:

The new foreign aid policy foresees that for every dollar of federal income, defence, which is now receiving 6.3 pennies, will increase significantly, while international assistance remains frozen at 1.7 pennies.

Defence is not the sole guarantor of our security. International assistance plays a key role in establishing a world that is more just, healthy, educated and peaceful as targeted by the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) agreed upon by the United Nations.

For example, our security is enhanced when Minister of International Development, Marie-Claude Bibeau, announces $100 million for the ultimate stage of polio eradication. Amongst other things, this will require the consolidation of a worldwide network of health systems capable of finding cases of a variety of infectious diseases.

The same endeavour will also reach millions of children with life saving health interventions.

Since 1980, international assistance has helped to cut child mortality by half. This was a driver for smaller families, as is the education of girls. For security, population stability is better than population explosion. In this regard, the African continent was neglected. That is why Minister Bibeau is correct in planning to dedicate 50 per cent of all Canadian bilateral aid to Subsaharan Africa by 2021-2022.

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, even specifies which one of the 17 SDGs is the top priority to bring about peace: education. Sadly, only 7 per cent of Canadian assistance is dedicated to education. A major corrective is needed. International assistance must increase to allow significant investments in the global partnership for education as education cannot wait.

Pamela Walden-Landry Montreal