Harper concludes Middle East tour

On the final day of his visit to Israel and Jordan, Prime Minister Stephen Harper toured the Za’atari refugee camp in Jordan where he announced more funding to assist Syrian refugees and help destroy chemical weapons.

Harper made the announcement during a tour of the Za’atari refugee camp which is close to the Syrian border.

He pledged an additional $15 million to be spent supporting the international effort to destroy chemical weapons in Syria. $10 million will go to the organization overseeing the program and $5 million will assist the U.S. military in destroying the chemicals aboard an American ship.

Thursday, Harper announced another $150 million would be spent to help 6.5 million displaced people in Syria and 2.3 million refugees who have fled the civil war. $100 million will go toward basic needs like food, shelter, and health care. The rest will go to support a UNICEF campaign assisting child refugees.

Harper says Canada will do its best to ensure Syrian children ‘do not become a lost generation’: “We are touched by this. This is the reason we try to provide food and shelter, sanitation, education, and security to do what we can. This is obviously a situation that is putting a tremendous stress on literally millions of people and the Jordanian authorities and we are happy to assist them.”

About 125-thousand Syrians are packed into the refugee camp Harper toured. To date, Canada has spent more than $630 million in response to the Syrian crisis.