Introducing the relief & development beat at Canadian Affairs

 
In February 2025, Canadian Affairs launched an international relief and development beat. 

The goal of the beat is to provide coverage to this topic, which is mostly ignored by the mainstream media unless there is a significant disaster in the developing world that affects millions of people. 

This fits with the overall goal of Canadian Affairs, which was founded in 2023 to provide quality journalism on under-covered topics that matter to Canadians. 

This blog was created to help share that coverage with Canadians via F***b**k, which otherwise prevents users from linking to stories in Canadian media outlets. (But doesn’t prevent people from linking to blogs like this—so far, at least.) Direct links will be provided to stories on the Canadian Affairs website via other platforms such as BlueSky and X.  

Three stories have already been published (and are free to read): 

Aid groups respond to Poilievre’s pledge to cut foreign aid funding

Canada commits to foreign aid funding amidst U.S. freeze 

USAID cuts put "tied aid" in spotlight

About the beat 

Canada’s mainstream media have never done a great job of covering international relief and development. Only one newspaper, the Globe and Mail, had a development beat many years ago. 

Today, no media outlet has anyone on staff who specializes in international relief and development issues (although Geoffrey Johnston at the Kingston Whig-Standard has written about it). 

And yet, many Canadians support relief and development organizations, as does the Canadian government, which provides grants and matches to those groups. 

Altogether, the Government of Canada disbursed $15.5 billion in international assistance in 2022-2023 for 2,900 projects, of which official development assistance (ODA) made up 76% or $11.8 billion—a not insignificant amount. This aspect of Canadian life gets almost no attention. 

Another story not getting much attention is the future of government funding of relief and development in Canada, including what might happen to it with a change in government in 2025. 

What could that mean for Canadian aid groups? If the aid budget is cut, what impact could that have on Canada’s image and leadership around the world? What will happen to projects supported by Canadian government funding? These questions are not being explored. 

Other topics include the long-term health and viability of the sector; the changing fundraising landscape; the passing of the baton to new generations; the role faith plays in international relief and development; the impact of U.S. cuts to USAID on Canadian aid groups; and the changing international world order and aid; and others. 

Canadian Affairs wants to help address these questions. With the support of groups like Cuso International, Canadian Foodgrains Bank, Manitoba Council for International Cooperation, Canadian Lutheran World Relief, Primate’s World Relief & Development Fund and Caritas International—Development & Peace, we will publish two or so stories on international development each month, along with op-eds by sector leaders. 

The goal is to foster broad and informed understanding among the public about Canada’s international relief and development work, and the groups that are involved in it, with a goal of helping the public better understand what the sector does, who it is, why it is important and why government support continues to be valuable. 

Join us as we take a look at this under-covered topic!

This is the second national beat of an under-covered topic launched by Canadian Affairs. In 2023 it created a national religion beat, with support from Canadian faith groups.

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