On Tuesday, October 31st, the Canadian government announced that it will match every dollar Canadians donate to registered Canadian charities helping address the Rohingya refugee crisis. Canadians will have until November 28th to make donations that will be matched by the federal government. On behalf of the more than 44,000 people who have signed my petition, as well as other Canadians who have called on the government to take decisive action, I applaud the Canadian government for taking the a major step to help the more than 600,000 Rohingya refugees who have fled to Bangladesh. They are are living in makeshift refugee camps without clean water, adequate food supplies, proper sanitation facilities, or access to proper health care and this fund-raising initiative, along with the $25 million that Canada has already contributed, will go a long way to meeting the United Nation's goal of raising $434 million for this crisis, and addresses one of the key points in the petition. However, far more still needs to be done to address the roots of the crisis which created the refugees. Canadians are still waiting for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to unequivocally condemn the atrocities committed by Myanmar's military and state-supported nationalist groups who have committed crimes against humanity, and to label it a genocide as the presidents of France and Turkey have done. To date there has also been no indication by the Canadian government of any action on the international legal front to bring the perpetrators of the atrocities committed against the Rohingya to justice. In addition, there has been no effort to sanction Myanmar's political leader Aung San Suu Kyi for her complicity in the atrocities. In her comments about the crisis she has refused to acknowledge that atrocities have been committed or even acknowledge the existence of the Rohingya as a people. Furthermore, there has been no news about Canadian efforts or actions by other countries at the United Nations or through other international forums to impose an arms embargo on Myanmar, or to place sanctions on General Min Aung Hlaing, the commander-in-chief of the Myanmar armed forces, or his senior military leaders for ordering their soldiers to commit atrocities, crimes against humanity and genocide. And finally there has been no action at the United Nations to implent the "Responsibility to Protect" protocol which would put UN boots on the ground to create a safe haven for the Rohingya in a land that they have lived in for more than a thousand years. The announcement to match private donations was made by Marie-Claude Bibeau, Minister of International Development, was also applauded by the Humanitarian Coalition, an alliance of seven international development and humanitarian agencies consisting of Canadian Lutheran World Relief, CARE Canada, Islamic Relief Canada, Oxfam Canada, Oxfam-Québec, Plan Canada and Save the Children Canada. All these organizations have workers on the ground in Bangladesh attempting to meet the overwhelming need of Rohingya refugees who, in many cases, have spent two weeks crossing mountains and rivers to escape the brutal violence being perpetrated by Myanmar forces. For more information on the matching donations plan by the Canadian government please go to this link: http://www.international.gc.ca/gac-amc/campaign-campagne/myanmar/index.aspx?lang=eng