As President Trump disrupts alliances across the map, nearly every level of government in Canada has taken on new duties in a quietly audacious campaign to cajole, contain and if necessary coerce the Americans. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s strategy for managing Mr. Trump is unlike anything tried by another ally. And he has largely succeeded where even experienced leaders like Angela Merkel of Germany have fallen short.

The fifth Women Deliver Conference — the world’s biggest gathering on women's health and rights — will be held in Canada in 2019, it has been announced. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said today that the conference — which brings together more than 6,000 political leaders, health experts, advocates and other stakeholders every three years — will be held in Vancouver from June 3-6, 2019. It will be seen by many as confirming Canada’s position as a global leader on women’s issues.

Following the release of the federal budget this spring, many members of Canada’s international development community worried about this country’s long-term commitment to families like the Hernandez’s. hankfully, a practical new framework for Canada’s international assistance, released Friday by Marie-Claude Bibeau, Minister for International Development, underscores Canada’s commitment to our sector and provides relief for those troubled by Canada’s stalled aid contribution in the 2017 budget.

Women-focused aid groups welcomed Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s unapologetically feminist foreign aid policy. [...] In five years, 95 per cent of Canada’s overseas development assistance will be devoted to programs that target gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls. Fifty per cent of the development budget will go to sub-Saharan Africa and the amount of funding going to health and reproductive rights will double. [...] “The research shows beyond a doubt that investment in a girl’s education is the most effective investment we can make in international assistance.”

Two Canadian First Nation sound artists are currently in La Guajira, Colombia, working with Indigenous artists from Chile and Colombia to create a unique sound art installation to premiere at the imagineNATIVE Film and Media Arts Festival in Toronto this fall. The cross-cultural project, called the Territ-Aur(i)al Imprints Exchange, invited sound artists Janet Rogers, who is Mohawk, and Casey Koyczan, who is Tlicho Dene.

Ramadan is usually a time for fasting, prayer and renewal of religious devotion. For some local Muslims, this year’s Ramadan will also be a time to organize and send some relief to those facing hunger and famine. From Toronto to Ottawa and Calgary, members of the International Development and Relief Foundation (IDRF) are teaming up with students and Muslim volunteers to prepare and pack about 1,500 supply kits to be delivered to thousands of families in Somalia.

This Sunday, Vancouver will, once again, hold the annual World Partnership Walk in beautiful Stanley Park to benefit the excellent work of the Aga Khan Foundation Canada, which works at the grassroots level in Africa and Asia to “tackle poverty on many fronts: improving access to quality education and health, increasing food security, creating economic opportunities for women and men, and building strong, resilient communities and local institutions”. The foundation engages Canadians from all walks of life, supported by the tireless devotion of volunteers.