Public Service Alliance of Canada BC

Via makepovertyhistory.ca …

I am writing to you today to ask for your help in stopping a dangerous trade deal that you have probably never heard of. The government of Canada is negotiating a trade deal with Colombia, a country that Human Rights Watch calls the “worst human rights and humanitarian disaster” in the Americas.

This controversial deal will make many poor in Colombia worse off and help support a government involved in serious human rights abuses. The US Congress refused to approve a similar deal earlier this year, citing human rights abuses. If Canadians don’t speak up, this deal can be passed without parliamentary approval or public debate.

WHAT YOU CAN DO: Write to your Member of Parliament and insist that this deal not go through without a full debate in Parliament and the explicit approval of our elected representatives.

There is not much time - negotiations are underway, and are set to be completed before the end of the year. Millions of people in Colombia have been displaced through a violent conflict over land and resources. Transnational companies have become complicit in this violence. Many people living in poverty in Colombia are concerned that this deal increases the power of corporations at the expense of the poor.

Act in solidarity with Colombian social justice activists. Tell others that trade is a matter that affects poverty and human rights, and that you care. Speak out now!

Dennis Howlett
Coordinator
Make Poverty History

Prepared by Megan Adam, Public Service Alliance of Canada

In July of 2006, twelve delegates from four Canadian trade unions traveled to Colombia as part of an ongoing campaign to defend public services and trade union organizing in that country. Over twelve days our delegation visited three major cities and several smaller communities, speaking with dozens of people representing trade union, human rights and indigenous community movements. During our densely-packed itinerary we heard the Colombians’ stories of repression and resistance, saw films about police attacks and murders, and were called on to witness the ongoing degradation of public services and Colombian society. The tour was not only a chance to make stronger links with our southern counterparts, but a wakeup call to our future if global social justice and civil society movements do not continue the struggle to halt privatization pressures by organizations like the IMF and WTO.

• The first portion of the Frontlines Tour took place in 2004 when a delegation of Colombian workers visited Canada: read more at the Social Justice Fund website and the psacbc.com archives.

This report will give a brief overview of our activities in Colombia as part of the Frontlines Tour. The four participating unions (PSAC, BCGEU, CUPE and CUPW) are the major representatives of public sector workers in Canada and we met with many of our counterparts in Colombia as well as their human rights and community partners. This initiative in the PSAC is part of the ongoing work of the Social Justice Fund, and a component of the Make Poverty History campaign, incorporating the fight to defend quality public services such as health, education, welfare, clean water, sanitation and energy around the world.

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