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Santiago Summit of the Americas

Large Delegation of Canadians Will Participate

More than 50 Canadians from trade unions, churches, environmental groups, human rights and women's organizations, and other social justice groups will attend the Santiago People's Summit of the Americas being held in Chile from April 15th to 19th.<

Ottawa, March 11, 1998 More than 50 Canadians from trade unions, churches, environmental groups, human rights and women's organizations, and other social justice groups will attend the Santiago People's Summit of the Americas being held in Chile from April 15th to 19th.

"Social justice and labour organizations throughout the Americas are wanting to be heard," says Dick Martin, who will head the Canadian non-governmental delegation, and is the Secretary-Treasurer of the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) and President of the Inter-American Regional Workers Organization (ORIT).

The Santiago People's Summit is running parallel to the Second Summit of the Americas, which will be attended by the Heads of State from all countries in the Americas (except Cuba). The People's Summit will bring together a broad coalition of civil society organizations from throughout the hemisphere who are calling on the Leaders' Summit to address social justice concerns as they discuss free trade, human and labour rights, democracy, education, poverty and discrimination.

"Summit leaders need to look beyond the business world, otherwise the race to the bottom will become even more intense and the standard of living of all workers, whether Brazilian, Mexican, American or Canadian, will drop dramatically," emphasizes Martin. "This People's Summit will forge a strong alliance, one that will push to ensure that the people of the Americas are heard and that our rights are addressed directly and with enforceable clauses in any and all future trade agreements throughout the Americas."

"Our governments need to focus on a development agenda," says Betty Plewes, President of the Canadian Council for International Co-operation (CCIC), "one which addresses the rights of people and which is environmentally sustainable in the long term."

Organizations attending the People's Summit, from Canada and throughout the Americas, have formed a social alliance that will propose alternative models of hemispheric integration where social justice, equity, human and labour rights, and sustainable development are central goals. About 1500 delegates are expected to attend the People's Summit. The Canadian delegation is being coordinated by the Toronto-based network, Common Frontiers, the R?seau qu?becois sur l'int?gration continentale, the Conf?deration de syndicats nationaux, and the CLC.

Other Canadian organizations involved in the Summit preparations include: the Canadian Environmental Law Association, the Canadian Council for International Cooperation, affiliates of the Canadian Labour Congress, the International Centre for Human Rights and Democratic Development, the National Action Committee on the Status of Women, the Ecumenical Coalition for Economic Justice, the Canadian Association of Labour Lawyers, the Inter-Church Committee on Human Rights in Latin America.

The People's Summit opens on April 15th, followed by two days of workshops on specific themes: human rights, labour, environment, rural issues, economic alternatives, ethics, indigenous peoples, women. The plenary on the 18th will adopt a declaration summarizing the concerns of delegates, which organizers hope to present to the leaders. Their deliberations will build upon the Declaration of the Workers of the Americas elaborated in Belo Horizonte, Brazil last May at a hemispheric trade union and non-governmental organization forum.