Poilievre vows to cut funds to UN agency amid reports of staff role in Oct. 7 attacks

Ottawa -

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre told caucus members on Sunday he plans to slash funding to a United Nations agency that supports Palestinians amid allegations some of its staff played a role in last October's terrorist attacks against Israel.

Poilievre said Prime Minister Justin Trudeau should be "ashamed" for funding the the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East , pledging in a speech to caucus members that he would "cut back."

Poilievre accused Trudeau of sending money to "foreign terrorists and dictators, calling it aid."

"He gave money to UNRWA," Poilievre said to repeated calls of "shame" from Conservative members of Parliament who gathered in Ottawa for a planning huddle before the House of Commons resumes on Monday.

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The federal government says it stopped the flow of "any additional funding" for UNRWA following reports that some staff were involved in the Oct. 7 attacks by Hamas against southern Israel.

The agency's director says it has terminated staff thought to have been involved and has launched an investigation.

International Development Minister Ahmed Hussen said in a statement late Friday that Canada "is taking these reports extremely seriously" and would work to get aid into the besieged Gaza Strip through other agencies until Unrwa's own investigation is complete.

Hamas killed more than 1,200 people and took about 240 others hostage during the attack, triggering a war that local authorities say has killed more than 25,000 Palestinians, including thousands of children.

Former Conservative prime minister Stephen Harper had cut funding to Unrwa in 2010 after allegations of its ties to Hamas, which has been listed as a designated terrorist entity in Canada for decades. The Liberals restored it in 2016.

Poilievre pointed to that in his speech Sunday.

"We warned what would happen if you gave money to UNRWA. We cut the funds," he said.

Heather McPherson, the NDP's foreign affairs critic, said Canada is wrong to halt funding to UNRWA.

"Investigations must proceed, but this punishes the starving people of Gaza who need a ceasefire and for whom UNRWA is one of their only sources of help," she said in a statement posted on X, the platform previously known as Twitter. "Over one hundred UNRWA staff have been killed in this horrifying war. UNRWA's staff of 30,000 provides essential services to Palestinians."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 28, 2024.

With files from Dylan Robertson in Ottawa.