Doctors Without Borders: Canada’s Federal Budget 2026 is silent on humanitarian action
As global humanitarian needs soar, Canada’s commitments to international assistance are nowhere to be found in Budget 2026
No mention of International Humanitarian Assistance
Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is profoundly disappointed that the Canadian government’s Federal Budget 2026 makes no mention of international humanitarian assistance or global health, at a time when global funding cuts have already decimated the support that people affected by crises depend on for survival.
These omissions come despite the recommendations of the government’s own Standing Committee on Finance for the 2026 budget, which called for predictable, flexible and needs-based humanitarian assistance, including for Gaza and Democratic Republic of Congo.
They also follow the more than $2 billion in aid cuts already announced in last year’s budget, suggesting that Canada is turning away from its long-standing leadership role when it comes to responding to international health and humanitarian needs. For a government that has made a point of calling on other countries to join it in standing up for global norms and shared values, this would be a striking retreat.
Around the globe, conflicts are increasing, new crises are emerging, and civilians continue to bear the cost. MSF witnesses the impact of these events first-hand. That is why we have been calling on Canada to restore its international humanitarian assistance budget to at least the level of $1.3 billion reached in 2022-23.
In the days ahead, Canada should make clear what its intentions are when it comes addressing global health and humanitarian needs. Canada must also reaffirm its support for people in crisis around the world by providing a specific funding commitment for international assistance.
MSF’s other recommendations
Increased humanitarian funding wasn’t the only recommendation that MSF made in its pre-budget submission to the federal government. We also called on Canada to provide the funding necessary to uphold International Humanitarian Law and protect the delivery of medical care in the world’s conflict zones by meeting all of its commitments under UN Security Council Resolution 2286 – something that appears nowhere in the budget, despite Canada continuing to publicly voice support for a rules-based world order.
When it comes to access to medicines, there is similarly no mention in this budget of Canada dedicating funding to the manufacture of vaccines or medicines of high public health value but low commercial appeal, as MSF has consistently recommended. This could be done using Canada’s publicly owned manufacturing facilities, including the Biologics Manufacturing Centre in Montreal, which was built in 2021 with a promise of producing 24 million doses of vaccine per year; yet, to date, this publicly owned facility has produced nothing at all.
MSF has also called for Canada’s public investments in medical research and development to prioritize public health over private wealth. While this budget contains measures to increase R&D innovation and commercialization, it makes no mention of including the kinds of binding obligations to public funding of health research that will ensure any ensuing commercial products are made affordable and accessible for the people who actually need them most, both in Canada and elsewhere around the world.
At a time when people’s needs in war and crisis zones have reached historic highs, Canada’s silence on its humanitarian commitments in Budget 2026 is deeply concerning. As other wealthy countries turn away, now is the time for Canada to show more vocal and bold leadership – not less.
