The Stephen Harper government wants to take us into a free trade agreement with the worst human rights violator in the Americas. Colombia is a country where trade unionists and other social movement activists suffer government brutality on a daily basis.
More than 560 trade union officers and rank and file members have been killed there since Colombian president Alvaro Uribe Velez took office. Few of the perpetrators have been brought to justice.
On Nov. 29 in Ottawa: Dr. Manuel Rozental will give a first-hand report on why the Canada-Colombia free trade deal must be stopped. Dr. Rozental is a member of the political advisory committee to the Colombian Action Network on Free Trade (RECALCA) in Bogota. He will speak at Amnesty International House (312 Laurier Ave. E.), from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. The Canadian Labour Congress is sponsoring this event.
In Toronto: Delegates to the Ontario Federation of Labour convention will march to protest against the Canada-Colombia Free Trade Agreement. Delegates will leave the Sheraton Hotel (Queen and York) at noon and march first to the U.S. Consulate and from there to Queen’s Park.
On Nov. 30 in Halifax: Trade Unionists and community activists will gather at noon in front of the office of Peter MacKay, MP for Central Nova. The gathering will tell Mr. MacKay and Prime Minister Stephen Harper to immediately stop negotiations of a free trade agreement with Colombia.
Colombia is not a country that Canada should sign a free trade agreement with.
