Ottawa is sending another $100 million to Palestinians without knowing where the money will be spent

Of all the millions Ottawa has earmarked for Palestinians, it’s the outlays for UNRWA – the United Nations Relief and Works Agency – that have received the most scrutiny. Photo by Mohammad Nazal/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images

Article content

Over the years, Canadian tax dollars earmarked for Palestinians have helped pay the salaries of Palestinians implicated in the October 7 terrorist attacks, and others found to be working in high-level positions for Hamas.

Article content

They’ve probably helped fund an infamous “martyr’s fund” that compensated the families of terrorists killed in attacks on Israelis.

Article content

Article content

Article content

And throughout, Canadian tax money helped pay for the textbooks and curricula teaching Palestinian children to seek the eradication of Israel by any means necessary.

Article content

Article content

In all these instances, the Government of Canada assured skeptics that the money would not support terrorism, would not fund extremism and would be used exclusively for education and basic needs.

Article content

And as Canada once again authorizes its latest $100 million outlay for Palestinians, the pledges are the same. This new round of cash, wrote the Prime Minister’s Office, is destined only for “humanitarian assistance” or “peace and stabilisation.”

Article content

By the government’s own accounting, that makes a total of $600 million that Canada has transferred to Gaza since the Palestinian-led terrorist attacks of October 7, 2023.

Article content

That works out to about $15 in Palestinian transfers per Canadian. Or, $20 for each of Canada’s approximately 30 million tax filers.

Article content

It also means that Gaza remains consistently within the top 10 recipients of Canadian foreign aid, outstripping recipients such as Nigeria or South Sudan, both of which are dealing with active humanitarian and refugee crises.

Article content

Article content

In the 2024/2025 fiscal year, for instance, Gaza was given $167 million in Canadian aid, higher than any other recipient save Haiti, Ethiopia and Ukraine.

Article content

Article content

Of all the millions Ottawa has earmarked for Palestinians, it’s the outlays for UNRWA – the United Nations Relief and Works Agency – that have received the most scrutiny.

Article content

In 2010, the then Conservative government of Stephen Harper suspended Canadian aid to UNRWA, citing the agency’s close ties to terrorist groups such as Hamas. The funding was restored in 2016 by the government of then prime minister Justin Trudeau.

Article content

As such, Canadian tax money was flowing to UNRWA at the time of the October 7 terrorist attacks, which the agency has since acknowledged likely involved employees on their payroll.

Article content

In the summer of 2024, the UNRWA fired nine employees, saying an investigation by the UN Office of Internal Oversight Services showed they “may have been involved in the attacks of 7 October.”

Article content

In June, the UNRWA fired 70 more employees who have been accused by Israel of Hamas linkages. Although in an official statement, the agency said “the dismissal of the staff is not part of a disciplinary process and does not constitute in any way a validation of the claims made against them.”