Canada Can't Afford to Retreat From the World

By Sevaun Palvetzian, President and CEO, UNICEF Canada

Bilaterals with EU leaders. Meetings in the Oval Office. Hosting the G7. New NATO commitments. Without question, Canada is working harder than ever before to find our place in the evolving world order.

And we need to be. Many of the principles and partnerships that anchored us for generations have either fundamentally shifted or are gone. We barely recognize our closest ally and the new administration's approach to foreign policy: uncharted territory marked by unilateralism, trade retrenchment, withdrawal from multilateralism and transactional diplomacy.

These changes are resetting the global order, and it's happening in real time.

Canada can't afford to stand still. We need to be two steps ahead: smartly planning for the long-term (as in generations, not election cycles) and adeptly pivoting in the short-term to balance domestic pressures against a backdrop of rising global uncertainty.

As with most macro challenges in life, there is no playbook for this. But there are some examples of what not to do. One, especially close to home.

Despite having earned and held the global title of humanitarian leader for decades, the U.S. has largely abandoned its support for development assistance earlier this year with the dismantling of USAID.

Once a symbol of American humanitarian ambition, USAID was created in 1961 by President John F. Kennedy as part of a broader effort to reframe American foreign policy in the Cold War era. He believed that development aid - focused on health, education, agriculture, and infrastructure - could be a powerful tool for peace and stability in newly independent nations. Instead of just reacting to crises, the U.S. would invest in long-term progress. Quiet work with profound impact.

Those investments were smart. With extraordinary payback in terms of lives saved, conflicts avoided, prosperity boosted, poverty alleviated, and diseases reduced.

Over six decades, the U.S. earned a first place standing and helped shape the world through consistent, critical development assistance and humanitarian emergency relief. For the cost of less than 1% of the federal budget.

It's hard to overstate the devastation of these USAID slashes.

On nutrition alone, UNICEF estimates nearly 14 million children could have their access to nutrition support disrupted, leaving them vulnerable to becoming severely malnourished. Because of these cuts, children will die from entirely preventable causes - not only malnutrition, but also lack of clean water, safe sanitation and essential health services. Countless more will miss out on education and programmes that protect them from harm and abuse.

Here are 3 reasons why the Canadian government needs to protect and prioritize our long-standing commitment to global impact as we redefine our role on the global stage:

Foreign Aid Delivers Outsized Returns

Official Development Assistance (ODA) is often misunderstood as mere charity - a nice-to-have in better economic times. But ODA isn't a luxury. It's a strategic foreign-policy lever with tangible returns.

A dollar spent on preventing health crises before they spread, alleviating hunger, or instability abroad saves many more in crisis response down the road. Well-designed aid programs can reduce forced migration, limit the spread of pandemics, and prevent conflicts before they require humanitarian intervention. Prevention is cheaper than recovery: every $1 in aid can save up to $7 in disaster response.

Education, too, has a multiplier effect and plays a critical role in global peace and security. Studies show that higher secondary education enrolment rates are strongly correlated with lower risks of conflict Another study found that increasing the enrolment of boys in secondary school from 30% to 81% is associated with a two-thirds reduction in the risk of civil war.

These are powerful results. Which take commitment to realize, but a relatively modest budget to enable.

Canada spendsless than half of one percentof our Gross National Income on ODA. For that amount, we help enable incredible impact and gain one of the smartest insurance policies a middle power can buy: a fairer, more stable, secure world that serves not only the most vulnerable in their most vulnerable moments - but directly serves Canadian values and interests too.

Foreign Aid is an Invaluable Tool in Global Relations

Influence is a currency. But it needs to be continuously invested in to realize its compounding effect.

ODA not only saves millions of lives, but it also keeps a country's global relationships strong, prevents crises that cost far more if left unchecked, and provides nations a direct, on-the-ground ability to influence the very global conditions that affect us all.

Established, well-targeted development assistance allows Canada to build trust, influence, and relationships in regions where global power and alliances are shifting rapidly.

When we invest in public health in West Africa, girls' education in South Asia, or clean water access in the Middle East, we're not just addressing urgent humanitarian needs - we're building long-term partnerships based on respect, reliability, and shared goals. Vietnam, for example, became Canada's leading trade partner in Southeast Asia after benefitting from Canadian international assistance.

These partnerships matter. In addition to lives shaped and saved, they can help secure international cooperation, open trade opportunities, and reinforce democratic norms in regions where competing governance models are gaining ground.

Simply put, ODA lets Canada show up in ways that diplomacy or defence alone cannot.

Global Influence Is Shifting - and Others Are Stepping In

It's amazing to watch in real time. As traditional donors like the United States scale back their aid commitments, new players are stepping in to claim that leadership role. Countries such as China are expanding their engagement through large-scale infrastructure and development financing, often in ways that align with their strategic interests. When the U.S. cancelled projects on child literacy and early-years development, China stepped in immediately funding nearly identical alternative programs.

For Canada to remain relevant in a rapidly changing world, we must be present and proactive on the global stage. Not just in boardrooms, embassy corridors, or leader meetings but in providing support locally in communities where trust and influence is often built first.

Countries that pull back now risk losing credibility, leverage and long-term influence. Those are losses that Canada can't afford to make. Too many lives - and our new place in a shifting world - rests on us getting this right.