Trudeau sending another $3 billion to Ukraine, including $4 million for gender and diversity
David Krayden
The funds are in service to “establishing a gender and diversity working group to promote gender-transformative mine action in Ukraine.”
Of the $3.02 billion in aid for Ukraine that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced last weekend, $4 million will be going for “a gender and diversity working group to promote gender-transformative mine action in Ukraine.”
It is not clear what either gender or diversity has to do with demining operations in Ukraine.
A backgrounder provided by the Prime Minister’s Office, explains that the project “aims to safeguard the lives and livelihoods of Ukrainians, including women and internally displaced persons, by addressing the threat of explosive ordnance present across vast areas of the country. Project activities include conducting non-technical surveys and subsequent manual clearance in targeted communities; providing capacity building to key national stakeholders; and establishing a gender and diversity working group to promote gender-transformative mine action in Ukraine.”
Another $1.5 million is on its way to the Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining that will support an activity called “gender-responsive mine action operations.”
Just prior to the announcement, the Trudeau government quietly borrowed another $77 billion in order to achieve the spending levels forecast for the end of the current fiscal year on March 31.