FAAE meeting 18 · 2026-01-27 — Committee Evidence — LegisWatch

Summary

The committee met to study Canada’s Africa strategy, hearing from H.E. Ben Marc Diendéré, Ambassador and Special Envoy for Africa; Ryan Clark and Susan Steffen, directors general from the Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development; and Lori Kerr, CEO of FinDev Canada.

Ambassador Diendéré said his role has raised Canada’s profile at the African Union and opened doors for trade missions in sectors like energy, mining and agriculture, but he stressed Canada needs more resources and interdepartmental coordination to help Canadian companies compete on the continent, where many other nations are already active. He argued that Africa now expects investment rather than aid, and recommended focusing on priority countries and creating “champions” on the ground, while acknowledging that Canada cannot replace U.S. assistance but can be creative with blended finance.

Ryan Clark explained that most Canadian aid in Africa has gone to social programs, with limited risk of displacing private investment, and that the strategy aims to use more blended finance to mobilize private capital, for example through sovereign loans in South Africa to support energy transition. He noted that international assistance can help improve governance around critical minerals to reduce barriers for Canadian mining companies.

Susan Steffen added that progress on opening new diplomatic posts in Zambia and Benin is under way, and that the department will measure the strategy’s results through its departmental performance reports.

Lori Kerr said FinDev Canada has invested over $1 billion in sub-Saharan Africa, focusing on financial industry, agribusiness and sustainable infrastructure, and that it uses blended finance to de-risk private investment, citing a $75-million Canadian investment that helped leverage a $1.5-billion climate adaptation fund. She noted FinDev does not crowd out private capital, follows strict environmental and social standards including on child labour, and that its francophone African portfolio is about 7% due to the opportunity set, not a lack of French-speaking staff.

The committee then debated a motion to study clauses 460 to 462 of Bill C-15, with one member questioning why only division 27 was included and not division 18; the mover said she would find an answer.

AI-generated summary — may contain errors; verify against the official evidence.

Witnesses · 4

H.E. Ben Marc Diendéré

Ambassador, Permanent Observer African Union and Canada’s Special Envoy for Africa, Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development

Opening remarks

Mr. Chair, I would like to make a quick statement because I am in Addis Ababa and we may experience a power outage before the end of this presentation. Honourable members of the committee, I wish you all a very happy new year that furthers our shared eco-environmental and geopolitical issues. First, thank you for your invitation. I am very pleased to testify in support of our Africa strategy. I will talk about three issues over the next few minutes that the committee has allocated to me: my role in Canada’s Africa strategy, highlights of my mandate as a special envoy, and highlights of my role within the African Union and the African Union Commission. Members of the committee, I'll turn to point one, which is Africa's strategy and my role. Prior to the launch of this strategy, this committee indicated the importance of enhancing—

Full testimony ↗

Ryan Clark

Director General, Central, Southern and Eastern Africa Bureau, Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development

Opening remarks

Thank you, Ben Marc. Our international assistance in Africa funds social programs and productive programs, if I could separate them into those two buckets. For the last 10 years, the predominant amount of that funding has gone into social programs, so supporting health and education initiatives where we'd be funding Canadian partners or international partners to help local and national-level health or education systems. In those cases, there are extremely limited chances of that displacing any sort of private investment. In fact, anywhere that we could find ways to mobilize investment in health or education sectors using our international assistance, we attempt to do so as part of our project design. On the productive side of things, which we're starting to do a bit more as part of this strategy, looking to see where and how we can better use our international assistance to spur economic growth and to mobilize investment and partnership, including with Canadian entities, we've had some successes in the agricultural sector. We've also had some success in energy transition using things like sovereign loans, for example. In South Africa, we've lent money where we're trying to work…

Foreign Affairs and International Development

Summary

Witnesses · 4

Bills mentioned