NAFTA: Coalition: reject at Mexico City alternate meetings

[Oscar]

Civil society groups to reject NAFTA at parallel talks this weekend

[ https://canadians.org/media/civil-socie ... ks-weekend ]

Media Advisory May 25, 2017

A coalition of civil society groups will hold their own talks in Mexico City from May 26-28 to challenge the private NAFTA renegotiation meetings that Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland is taking part in there.

“There is a growing alliance of organizations calling on Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland to stop signing on to backroom deals that sell out our jobs and the planet,” says Rick Arnold, Council of Canadians Northumberland chapter activist.

Participating organizations from Canada and Québec:

• Canadian Labour Congress
• Council of Canadians
• Trade Justice Network
• Common Frontiers
• BC Teachers’ Federation
• Unifor
• Canadian Union of Public Employees
• Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives
• National Farmers’ Union
• Public Service Alliance of Canada
• Justicia for Migrant Workers
• Office of Romeo Saganash, Member of Parliament
• United Steelworkers of Canada
• Association pour la Taxation des Transactions pour l’Aide aux Citoyens (ATTAC-Québec)
• Centre international de solidarité ouvrière (CISO)
• Confédération des syndicats nationaux (CSN)
• Fédération des travailleurs et travailleuses du Québec (FTQ)
• Fédération nationale des enseignantes et des enseignants du Québec (FNEEQ-CSN)
• Réseau québécois sur l'intégration continentale (RQIC)

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For more information or to arrange interviews:

Dylan Penner, Media Officer,
Council of Canadians, 613-795-8685,
dpenner@canadians.org. Twitter: @CouncilOfCDNs

[Oscar]

Northumberland chapter at 'Trinational Meeting of Social Movements' on NAFTA in Mexico City

[ https://canadians.org/blog/northumberla ... exico-city ]

May 28, 2017 - 1:07 pm

(PHOTO: Chapter activist Bev Burke and Rick Arnold.)

The Council of Canadians Northumberland chapter was at the May 26-27 gathering in Mexico City of civil society and labour activists to strategize about the imminent renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

Chapter activists Rick Arnold and Bev Burke were at the encuentro along with Council of Canadians trade campaigner Sujata Dey and numerous allies.

Arnold says, “There is a growing alliance of organizations calling on Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland to stop signing on to backroom deals that sell out our jobs and the planet."

The promotion for the gathering highlighted, "We call on social movements, trade unions, farmers, indigenous nations, migrants, environmentalists, human rights groups and all other interested sectors/organizations from Mexico, United States and Canada to come together to strengthen trinational work in the face of the ‘re-negotiation’ of NAFTA, an agreement that has been negative for the peoples of the three countries. ...This gathering gives us all an opportunity to strategize around actions needed to build collective power based on the principles of solidarity and internationalism while sharing alternatives to the dominant neo-liberal agenda."

Mexican organizations, working together under the umbrella of ‘Mexico Better Off Without FTAs’, are convening this gathering. Organizations in Canada and Quebec involved in this include Common Frontiers, the Trade Justice Network, RQIC, ATTAC-Québec, along with the Quebec-based unions CSD, CSN, FTQ and SPGQ.

The Council of Canadians made a modest financial contribution to assist Mexican organizations hold this trinational meeting.

Arnold will be interviewed about the outcomes of this gathering on 89.7 FM on June 2 following his return from Mexico City.


Tags: chapters
[ https://canadians.org/tags/chapters ]


Brent Patterson's blog
Political Director of the Council of Canadians
[ https://canadians.org/blogs/brent-patterson ]