“We would always welcome another source of funding if it’s in keeping with our mission and our principles,” said Development and Peace national council president Pat Kennedy. “We wouldn’t just partner with anyone. But any source of funding we would welcome if it’s in keeping with our mission and our principles.”
The provincial government and Quebec’s development NGOs have been studying how to create a Quebec funding mechanism for foreign aid since the federal government folded CIDA into the Department of Foreign Affairs Trade and Development last year. The Quebec Association of International Co-operation Organizations (Association Quebecoise des Organismes de Co-opération International – AQOCI) has laid out a Quebec version of CIDA. The Parti Quebecois government has signalled readiness to move on its own foreign aid agency.
Development and Peace, based in Montreal, has no worries about being caught up in the nationalist agenda of the current, separatist government in Quebec, said D&P executive director Michael Casey.
“Development and Peace already collaborates with the Quebec Ministry of International Relations through the Quebec sans Frontieres program and through occasional grants in support of our humanitarian aid work, which has not affected our profile or our actions as a Canadian organization,” wrote Casey in an e-mail. “Development and Peace is a non-partisan organization. The organization is always satisfied to see the international development budgets increased, should it be at the federal or provincial level.”
Recent shrinkage in Ottawa’s international development aid budget has opened the door for Quebec to enter the field and sent agencies like Development and Peace looking for other sources of funding.
“The decreased federal funding has put many NGOs in a difficult financial position,” said Casey. “This is the case for many organizations in Quebec and it is certainly one of the reasons why the Quebec government and the AQOCI started to look at new ways to support international solidarity in the province.”
Development and Peace’s 2012 proposal for a five-year funding agreement with the federal government was reduced by more than $35 million.
While Development and Peace is a member of the Quebec association of development agencies, as it is of most provincial associations, it did not contribute to the AQOCI report to the Quebec government. Casey emphasized that Development and Peace is not looking for funding just for the sake of funding.
“We see no objection to seeking funding from the (Quebec government) as long as the projects meet Development and Peace’s mandate and priorities,” he said.
There’s nothing political about applying for funding in Quebec, said Kennedy.
“We’re non-partisan. We’re not involved in the politics of it,” he said. “We’ll let the politicians do the politics. But if there’s another organization that supports our development goals, that’s good.”