Did Global Affairs Canada delete its foreign aid database? No, that's not true: The Canadian government's X account stated that no data was deleted and that it was only experiencing technical problems. The database was publicly available at the time of writing. Lead Stories was able to access the database through its website.
The claim appeared in a post (archived here) on X on February 8, 2025. It read:
🚨 BREAKING: CANADA DELETES ENTIRE FOREIGN AID DATABASE--WHAT ARE THEY HIDING? 🚨 🔴 Global Affairs Canada just wiped all public records of foreign aid spending. 🔴 Taxpayer-funded billions--gone from public view, no transparency, no accountability. 🔴 Why the sudden cover-up? What corrupt dealings are they trying to bury? 🔥 Canadians deserve answers. Who got the money? Where did it go? The timing is highly suspicious. 🔥
This is what the post looked like at the time of this writing:
(Source: X screenshot taken on Tues Feb 18 16:48:25 2025 UTC)
Global Affairs Canada made a post on X clarifying what happened with its database on February 7, 2025. It read:
GAC's Project Browser may still be experiencing slowdowns, however all data is available. Our technicians continue working to resolve the situation and will keep Canadians informed. Any claims that the page was taken down or that certain data has been removed are false.
This is what that post looked like at the time of this writing:
(Source: X screenshot taken on Tues Feb 18 17:06:58 2025 UTC)
The Global Affairs Canada database website, which is part of the Canadian government site, was functional as of this writing on February 18, 2025:
(Source: Canadian government website screenshot taken on Tues Feb 18 17:23:10 2025 UTC)
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Additional Lead Stories fact checks on claims concerning Canada can be found here; on foreign aid, here.
At the time this was written, AFP had reviewed the same claim.
