Throughout the course of recent developmental history, it seems as though the entire world has been living a lie. That’s right; Red Cross, Doctors Without Borders, and any other international development and aid programs, it’s time for you to pack up and go home. The Harper Government of Canada, home to peacekeeping and Pearsonian diplomacy, is here to teach you a thing or two about international politics.
The do-gooders of the world have apparently been living under the illusion that foreign aid is actually supposed to be somewhat about the country it goes to, not just about the donor’s own interests. I know, I know, you can contain your laughter. (I mean, I knew the patient needed a kidney but that sounded super painful, so can they just take something less important, like my appendix, maybe?)
In a recent announcement from the government of the greatest humanitarian politico since Machiavelli, it appears that the Canadian International Development Agency has recommended the reduction or termination of aid to Sudan because it is no longer important to Canadian strategy and interests.

Not pictured: Canadian aid.
IFDC Photography
In a leaked report obtained by the ever-conscious and humanitarian news source The Globe and Mail last month, it seems that Canadian investment and trade opportunities just don’t seem to be readily available in Sudan. For years, Sudan has suffered an authoritarian rule, a President wanted by the International Criminal Court, and the effects of a horrific genocide, but, despite these teensy-weensy little problems, Canada just isn’t interested in helping the country get back on its feet anymore. In short, they’re done supplying aid. While the report in question apparently noted the need for developmental work and the necessity of the prevention of a relapse into a “humanitarian crisis”, money spoke louder than the thousands of innocent civilians caught in the crossfire. It’s a thumbs down from Simon Cowell-Harper. (Imagine, it seems a surgeon has walked out of a heart surgery in a hospital because he simply “wasn’t getting enough out of it”.)
Does the Canadian government assume that leaving an already volatile situation without supplying much-needed aid and support will help job and investment prospects in the African nation? Or does Sudan simply have much less oil than predicted. Why else would Canada be so apathetic to its survival?
Although the Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development did not directly comment as to whether or not Canada will completely withdraw aid from Sudan, the record speaks for itself. Last fall, the same department dismantled the Canadian Sudan Task Force, a group responsible for the coordination of the diplomatic, military, and developmental work done by Canadians in Sudan.
A cynic though I am, I suspect that the government will invest the withdrawn aid money into the much more stable and profitable European Union. I mean, white people problems count too, right?