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OTTAWA – Canadian aid funding is getting more political, at the risk of wasting taxpayers' money, a coalition of aid groups charged Wednesday.
The Canadian Council for International Co-operation, an umbrella group for foreign aid organizations, lost its funding after criticizing the government for cutting off another group and leaving others in limbo.
The group's president said the government cut off CCIC's funding because their complaints weren't welcome.
“There was an effort to apply political discipline,” Gerry Barr said. Barr called it an increasingly troubled relationship between the aid sector and the Canadian International Development Agency.
The agency has moved to give cash for specific projects rather than funding an aid group for several months or years, where there's less central control over how the money is used.
Barr argues that could make the projects less effective – and potentially waste money – because they can't change to adapt to different circumstances in the country where the work is done.
The press conference marked a year since a controversial decision not to fund multifaith charity KAIROS, Barr said.
The human rights group lost its funding after almost three decades, even though CIDA president Margaret Biggs recommended the minister approve the $7 million in renewed funding.
The controversy resurfaced this fall with news somebody changed a memo recommending KAIROS get the money, with a handwritten “not” added to it.
The handwritten word meant the memo read “sign below to indicate you NOT approve the contribution of $7,098,758.”
Last week, CIDA Minister Bev Oda said she wasn't sure whether she personally signed the memo. She said she couldn't say who added the “not”.
KAIROS has since submitted a new application, executive director Mary Corkery said.
Biggs' recommending their proposal last year is “a wonderful affirmation”, she said.
But “hearing that the minister doesn't know who put the 'not' in is very disturbing. And the question for us now is why were we not funded,” Corkery added.
Oda didn't respond directly to a question in the House about the amended funding approval.
“The government is choosing to make its international assistance more effective and more focused,” she said. “We want to make sure we have value for our aid dollars.”
laura.payton@sunmedia.ca