OTTAWA — The United Nations’ global head of humanitarian issues is praising Canada for helping the world’s most vulnerable even as he calls for accountability for the wars driving suffering worldwide. “Canada has become a humanitarian superpower,” Tom Fletcher said in an exclusive interview with The Canadian Press during a Monday visit to Ottawa. “I really hope that Canada continues to hold the line.” Fletcher leads the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. For two years he has visited the front lines in Ukraine and Gaza while urging the world not to forget about ongoing crises in Sudan, Afghanistan and Mali. His term started just weeks before the U.S. made deep cuts to foreign aid — though Fletcher praised the United States for restoring some of that funding over the past year. Pointing to the conflicts in Sudan and Gaza, Fletcher said the funding shortfall is being compounded by wars that are spreading hunger and blocking humanitarian relief. Roughly 19 million people in Sudan are living with acute hunger and Fletcher warns their plight could be made worse by changing weather patterns and the U.S. war in Iran blocking supply routes. Sudan’s warring parties in the now three-year-old civil war have banned aid workers from certain areas based on how they perceive the local population’s loyalties. Fletcher said he worries about normalizing practices the Israeli government has implemented in Gaza, such as barring journalists from the territory and drastically restricting aid flows. “It’s sort of infectious, in the way that it undermines international law elsewhere, and creates or adds to this climate of impunity that we’re seeing across all the crises we work in,” he said. Fletcher has faced sustained criticism from supporters of Israel who say the UN is downplaying groups like Hamas diverting aid or embedding themselves among civilians. Fletcher said it’s important not to bow to that pressure, which he said comes from people who don’t want the world to see the extent of suffering inside Gaza. “We’re being told, ‘Well, you’ll get more access if you change your reporting, or if you reduce your criticism, or your advocacy, or, if you spend less time talking about international law,’ and so on,” he said. “We just have to be consistent here.” Technology is also making wars easier to fight. Fletcher said drones are being used more frequently against civilians in Sudan, Ukraine, Gaza and Lebanon. “The way in which humans are using their ingenuity to find new ways to kill civilians is terrifying,” he said. “We need the member states to be holding themselves and each other to account.” Fletcher praised Canada for its advocacy and its foreign aid funding, which he said “is saving millions of lives every year from Sudan to Afghanistan, to Gaza, to Ukraine, to Haiti and beyond.” “We’re in a world right now where we’re underfunded, we’re overstretched, we’re literally under attack — a thousand dead humanitarians in three years,” he said. “And at each point at which I’ve felt particularly exposed and where we as humanitarians feel exposed, we do look behind us and we find that Canada does have our back. And that means a huge amount.” Fletcher met Tuesday with Randeep Sarai, Canada’s secretary of state for international development, who announced the renewal of $6 million in federal funding to help co-ordinate global emergency responses. But Canada has changed its approach to foreign aid since Prime Minister Mark Carney took office. It cut funding for global health programs, is pushing for more private-sector investments in aid programs and spinoffs for Canadian companies, and dropped the “feminist” label from its foreign policy. The aid sector has criticized this shift. They argue it prioritizes domestic growth over aid intended to address the issues which drive migration and conflict, and does not support the world’s most vulnerable people. Ottawa has insisted it can fight poverty abroad while boosting Canadian companies at home. Co-operation Canada, a coalition of most Canadian aid groups operating abroad, said the sector supports reforms but is urging Ottawa not to cut development and humanitarian funding further. Coalition head Kate Higgins said during a Monday reception for Fletcher that the government’s recent national security strategy called for “strong international partnerships and a disciplined foreign policy.” “Canada can give practical expression to that ambition through sustained humanitarian funding, principled diplomacy, and consistent leadership in upholding international humanitarian law,” she said. Next July, Canada will chair a donor support group which consults with other rich countries on how the UN uses its humanitarian funding. Fletcher said that’s an opportunity for a “reimagination” of what humanitarian aid looks like in an era when governments aren’t meeting the needs. “I’d like to reach out beyond just traditional humanitarian development partners, actually towards technology companies, to the private sector, to really get their sense of how we can together deal with these crises,” he said. Fletcher said UN agencies and large organizations have a crucial role to play in addressing complex problems like the hunger crisis in Darfur. But he said places with internet connectivity and a functioning market might benefit more from cash transfers to individuals, or from health care programs where private companies can help while making a profit. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 3, 2026. Dylan Robertson, The Canadian Press
