Pledge to match Syria donations nears end
OTTAWA — Aid groups are hoping Canadians will still support the millions of Syrian refugees who won’t be coming here, as the clock ticks down on the federal government’s promise to match private donations to help them.
The first of what will end up being dozens of planeloads of Syrian hoping to start new lives in Canada was to arrive in Toronto late Thursday. The arrival marks the culmination of months of debate, preparation and anticipation by communities across the country.
But Thursday also marked another important milestone: three weeks until the end of the government’s offer to match donations made to registered Canadian charities who are providing emergency assistance such as food, clothing and medical aid to the 12 million Syrians affected by war.
Aid groups say Canadians have a long tradition of generosity when it comes to helping those in need abroad, evident in recent natural disasters such as the 2010 Haitian earthquake, Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines in 2013, and the Nepal earthquake earlier this year.
But the groups say they have had a hard time raising money in response to the five-year-old Syrian conflict, particularly in comparison to those other crises. They believe the total donated since the matching fund was established in September will fall short of the government’s promise to match up to $100 million.
The UN has described the Syrian situation as the worst humanitarian crisis in a generation: An estimated 12 million Syrians have been forced from their home by the civil war that has ravaged their country and fed the rise of the ISIL. More than 4.3 million have fled to Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey, while the rest are stuck in Syria.
Nicolas Moyer, executive director of the Humanitarian Coalition, which brings together five of Canada’s largest aid groups, said his organization has raised about $2.5 million for the Syrian refugee crisis in the past three months. That compares to $8 million raised in six weeks after the Nepal earthquake.
“Canadians are very generous,” Moyer said. “But the outpouring of generosity by Canadians, like others around the world, is impacted by the nature and type of coverage that there is. A disaster like an earthquake has no one to blame. A conflict like the one in Syria is more complicated to explain.”
Sue Larkin of the Canadian Red Cross, which has raised about $6.9 million under the matching fund, said her organization has seen a similar difference between the refugee crisis and recent natural disasters.
Larkin said natural disasters are “so in the media right away and Canadians see that story so often that we will obviously see a higher donation rate.”
The death of three-year-old Alan Kurdi was responsible for a wellspring of public interest in the Syrian refugees’ plight. Aid groups were inundated with donations in the week after photos of his lifeless body were published on Sept. 3. When the previous Conservative government established the matching fund on Sept. 12, however, it did not make the period for matching donations retroactive.