(Ottawa) The federal government announced $1.7 million to groups supporting gender and sexual minorities abroad, while facing criticism from activists that Ottawa is too slow to keep its funding promises .
“We know that groups opposing the rights of 2SLGBTQI people are increasingly funded and coordinated globally,” said Liberal MP Anita Vandenbeld, parliamentary secretary to International Development Minister Ahmed Hussen.
She praised the activists for continuing to fight for their rights at great risk instead of seeking refugee status, saying they have contributed to recent progress for minorities in Nepal, Thailand and Dominica.
Mme Vandenbeld was speaking Thursday at a conference for the Dignity Network, a coalition of Canadian groups that support LGBTQ+ people abroad.
PHOTO ADRIAN WYLD, CANADIAN PRESS ARCHIVES
Anita Vandenbeld
Activists around the world have praised Canada’s various funds and projects aimed at protecting vulnerable people. But they said funds from Ottawa were coming slowly and urged Canada to respond more openly to some countries’ anti-gay laws.
The funding announced Tuesday includes $1 million for a project led by the U.S. Department of Humanitarian Aid to determine how groups in several countries can combat stigma and also respond to crises.
Jay Gilliam, senior LGBTQ+ coordinator at the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), applauded Canada for its support of the project over the past few years. In addition to funding research, he stressed that the money would help activists in danger pay for their resettlement and medical or legal fees.
“We are really excited to be able to cover many different locations and address the challenges identified by local communities,” Mr. Gilliam said on the sidelines of the conference.
The remainder of the funding is for Toronto-based Rainbow Railroad to examine the forced displacement of gender and sexual minorities around the world by helping governments understand the perspectives of those fleeing to safer places.
The Global Philanthropy Project presented preliminary data from a report that ranks Canada third among 16 national governments funding LGBTQ+ rights abroad, after the United States and the Netherlands.
Only 0.2% of Canadian aid was intended for this population during the fiscal year studied, which ended in spring 2022.
Stephen Brown, a professor at the University of Ottawa who specializes in foreign aid to LGBTQ+ people, said many activists have pointed out that accessing Canadian funding requires reams of paperwork and Zoom calls.
He said delegates compared the situation to evangelical groups in the United States that easily and quickly raise funds to support anti-gay movements.
“They appreciate Canadian funding, but they find that it does not always meet their needs,” said Mr. Brown. There are many conditions. It’s often too short-term, so they don’t know if they can count on it for a long time, when the need certainly won’t go away. »
Africa underfunded
The issue of funding was a priority for delegates from sub-Saharan Africa, who cited an increase in mob violence and discriminatory laws.
At the start of 2019, the Liberals announced funding for LGBTQ+ people abroad, including $15 million for groups living in regions where rights are declining.
Yet the ministry says only 1.25 million have reached sub-Saharan Africa and another 2.8 million have yet to be spent.
“Africa seems underfunded compared to other regions, despite greater needs, particularly in French-speaking countries,” said Mr. Brown.
Global Affairs Canada said the COVID-19 pandemic and a lengthy consultation process have delayed funding for some groups, but the department plans to increase spending.
Meanwhile, activists are urging Canada to speak out louder against homophobic laws in countries like Uganda and Ghana.
Pepe Julian Onziema, director of the Sexual Minorities Uganda program, is frustrated that governments did not speak out more before his country passed a law a year ago that provides for the death penalty for certain types of homosexual sex.
“We cried all over the world and no one took us seriously,” he lamented at the conference.
He argued that the lukewarm response internationally encouraged other African governments to follow suit. Ghana’s parliament has passed a bill, which has not yet been passed, that would allow people who identify as gay to be imprisoned.
Global Affairs Canada officials told activists that the priority was not to cause harm by speaking publicly and that their embassies abroad regularly raised their human rights concerns with foreign governments.
“What some Africans have said, Ugandans in particular, is that we need to speak louder. Other donors have taken a more vocal role, such as the United States and the World Bank. »