OTTAWA — Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre told caucus members on Sunday he plans to slash funding to a United Nations agency that supports Palestinians amid allegations some of its staff played a role in last October's terrorist attacks against Israel.
Poilievre said Prime Minister Justin Trudeau should be "ashamed" for funding the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, pledging in a speech to caucus members that he would "cut back" that money.
Poilievre accused Trudeau of sending money to "foreign terrorists and dictators, calling it aid."
"He gave money to UNRWA," Poilievre said to repeated calls of "shame" from Conservative members of Parliament who gathered in Ottawa for a planning huddle before the House of Commons resumes on Monday.
Parliamentarians have been divided over how Canada should respond to the Israel-Hamas war, which began on Oct. 7 when Hamas militants attacked civilians in southern Israel. More than 1,200 people died in the attacks and Hamas took about 240 people hostage, prompting immediate retaliation from Israel.
International agencies have spent months decrying the humanitarian crisis that has ensued in the densely populated Gaza Strip since Israel launched its retaliatory bombing campaign. Health authorities in Hamas-controlled Gaza have pegged the death toll at more than 25,000, including several thousand children.
The U.S. announced last week it was suspending funding to UNRWA following allegations by Israel that 12 of its employees had been involved in the October attacks. Israel has long accused the agency of having ties to Hamas, which it has denied.
Canada, along with other Western nations that provide more than half of the agency's funding, quickly followed suit.
The federal Liberal government announced it had stopped the flow of “any additional funding” for UNRWA following the reports of some staff involvement in the attacks. The agency's director says it has terminated those thought to have been involved and has launched an investigation.
International Development Minister Ahmed Hussen said in a statement late Friday that Canada "is taking these reports extremely seriously" and would work to get aid into the besieged Gaza Strip through other agencies until UNRWA's own investigation is complete.
Former Conservative prime minister Stephen Harper had cut funding to UNRWA in 2010 after allegations of its ties to Hamas, which has been listed as a designated terrorist entity in Canada for decades. The Liberals restored the funding in 2016.
Poilievre pointed to that move in Sunday's speech.
"We warned what would happen if you gave money to UNRWA. We cut the funds," he said.
Heather McPherson, the NDP's foreign affairs critic, said Canada is wrong to halt funding to the agency.
"Investigations must proceed, but this punishes the starving people of Gaza who need a ceasefire and for whom UNRWA is one of their only sources of help," she said in a statement posted on X, the platform previously known as Twitter. "Over one hundred UNRWA staff have been killed in this horrifying war. UNRWA’s staff of 30,000 provides essential services to Palestinians."
Cutting back on the agency's funding was the only mention Poilievre made of the Israel-Hamas war in his speech to MPs, in which he outlined his priorities for the sitting ahead. Those include keeping his party's focus on Canadians' anxieties around the cost of living and crime, particularly in its largest cities.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 28, 2024.
— With files from Dylan Robertson in Ottawa and The Associated Press
Stephanie Taylor, The Canadian Press
