09 December 2013 - The Honorable Christian Paradis, Minister of International Development and Minister for La Francophonie of Canada, praised Filipinos for their resiliency, and lauded Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert F. del Rosario and the response from the Philippine national and local governments in working with various civic groups in bringing relief to those affected by typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan), as Canada expressed its readiness to further provide assistance in the reconstruction and rehabilitation work ahead.

Minister Paradis hosted a roundtable meeting with members of Montreal's Filipino-Canadian community on December 04 to discuss Canada's response to typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan) and to seek inputs on how to strengthen future cooperation between the two countries. The various leaders of the sizeable community in Montreal were present, and were joined by Minister and Consul General Eric Gerardo Tamayo of the Philippine Embassy in Ottawa.

Minister Paradis had just come back from a recent trip to the Philippines where he had gone to oversee Canada's massive relief effort. The Minister visited some of the hardest-hit areas of the country where he witnessed firsthand the widespread devastation and met with men, women and children affected by typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan).

Minister Paradis had gone to Iloilo, Tacloban and Ormoc, and saw firsthand the devastation of the super typhoon. He was struck by the resilience of the Filipino people and the sincere and genuine smiles he saw amidst the severe hardships. He was impressed by the overall coordination work now underway by the local and national government working with various domestic and international civic groups in response to the crisis, and pointed to the timeliness of the deployment of the Canadian Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART). According to the Minister, the DART deployment was singled out by the United Nations as a definitive case study for timely disaster response in the future.

Immediately after returning from the Philippines, Minister Paradis announced the extension of the close of the Typhoon Haiyan Matching Relief Fund that "in the lead up to Christmas, I encourage Canadians to keep donating, and our government will keep matching eligible donations, dollar-for-dollar, up to December 23, 2013." Minister Paradis noted that "the fundraising efforts throughout Canada, and especially within the Filipino-Canadian community, have been extraordinary. Canadian charities tell me that thanks to the compassion and generosity of Canadian individuals and corporations, they have collected over $35 million in donations to date."

Since the typhoon struck the Philippines on November 8, Canada has provided a rapid and well-coordinated humanitarian and consular response that includes $20 million in humanitarian assistance, the deployment of emergency, relief items from the stockpiles of the Department Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development Canada to support the deployment of the Canadian Red Cross Field Hospital, and the deployment of the Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) of the Canadian Armed Forces, The Government of Canada continues to match every eligible dollar donated by individual Canadians between November 9 and December 23, 2013, to registered Canadian charities, responding to the impact of the typhoon.

Canada is among the first foreign government in the developed world to announce a direct matching fund facility for the Philippines. The total matching fund may likely be the biggest amount raised since the matching initiative began in the aftermath of the 2004 earthquake and tsunami in Southeast Asia and the earthquake in Haiti.

Moreover, Canada is within the top four donor countries to the Philippines in providing typhoon relief and is likely the top donor country thus far on a per capita basis. Canada is also working to further reduce remittance costs from Canada to the Philippines even though such costs all already the lowest from Canada to any point around the globe, and the inbound remittance levels had been the highest on a per capita basis coming from the top 10 foreign destinations of Filipinos in the world. END