Canadian govt will match pvt donations for Rohingya crisis

The federal government says that it will match every dollar Canadians donate to registered charities helping the Rohingya refugee crisis until Nov 28. These donations will be made to the Myanmar Crisis Relief Fund.

Bangladesh is now hosting the largest refugee camp in the world, said Marie-Claude Bibeau, Minister of International Development, reports Canadian media outlet thestar.com.

Two months into the crisis, over 900,000 Rohingya and other minorities have fled the violence in Burma (also known as Myanmar) — with some estimates suggesting the number has crossed a million.

Close to 70 per cent of these refugees are women and children, said Zaid Al-Rawni, CEO of Islamic Relief Canada, who was representing the Humanitarian Coalition at the government’s announcement on Tuesday.

The seven member collation, consisting of Canadian Lutheran World Relief, CARE Canada, Islamic Relief Canada, Oxfam Canada, Oxfam-Québec, Plan Canada and Save the Children Canada, are celebrating the government’s decision.

“It will have a real impact on the ground, and it will save lives,” said Al-Rawni at the announcement.

“I encourage all Canadians to donate to the organization of their choice. Your donation will save lives,” said Bibeau. “It will allow them to recover their sense of dignity until they can return to their homes.”

The UN launched an appeal for over $434 million to respond to the crisis. Thus far in 2017, Canada has committed over $25 million in humanitarian assistance funding in Bangladesh and Burma. Last week, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau named Bob Rae as Canada’s Special Envoy to Burma.