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Second Peoples' Summit

Summit of the Americas Extensive Coverage & Links
Click through now to voice your opinion. cbc.ca/news/indepth/summit?Ap20

2002

Monday Sep 16, 2002 cbc
Straight Goods' News, info, resources, pix, and talk to help inform you about the Quebec City Summit of the Americas, the issues, and protest activities surrounding it.

Last updated: May 07, 2001 ftaa
SEVEN SENTENCED FOR TRYING TO DISRUPT QUE. SUMMIT Seven men who sought to disrupt the Summit of the Americas in Quebec City last year endangered lives, Judge Pierre Rousseau says. News of and debates about the FTAA Summit and protests are still being posted

2001

1/Nov/2001 CLASS ACTION SUITS LAUNCHED AGAINST GOVERNMENTS Some people in Quebec City are launching four class-action law suits worth more than $300-million against all levels of government involved in the Summit of the Americas. The suits are designed to win compensation for damages and human rights abuses during the summit.

Mon 8/6/01 cbc

APEC REPORT CRITICAL OF RCMP PERFORMANCE
...OTTAWA - The RCMP is slammed in the long-awaited report from the APEC inquiry, but some of the original complainants say it doesn't go far enough.

Fri 7/13/01 Who wants to host a summit? The chambers of commerce of the towns of Banff and Jasper in Alberta and Whistler, B.C., may have mixed feelings about reports they may be chosen as the site for a meeting of the G8 summit in Canada next July. After all, no matter where one stands on the issue of globalization or free trade, it's becoming clear that playing host to any summit meeting connected to those issues is pretty much the equivalent of being chosen as a convention site for an outlaw biker gang. What you make on the tourist dollars you lose on the breakage.
Sound cynical? Ask the residents of Quebec City who spent weeks after last April's Summit of the Americas scrubbing tear-gas residue off the walls of their homes. (By the way, the final bill for the Quebec summit has just been totted up: a stunning $135 million was spent.)

Fri 7/13/01 9:59 AM Fence case knocked down By: ALLISON HANES
The Supreme Court of Canada ruled yesterday that it will not hear arguments from a civil-liberties group about the security perimeter erected around the Summit of the Americas site in Quebec City in April.
That month, Quebec Superior Court denied a motion by Montreal lawyer Marc F. Tremblay and Constance Fogal of the Vancouver Defence of Canadian Liberty Committee to have the fence torn down because it infringed the right to free speech.

Thu 7/12/01 SUMMIT PRICE TAG $135-MILLION, AND CLIMBING
April's Summit of the Americas in Quebec City will cost Canadian taxpayers $135-million dollars, making it the most costly event of its kind ever to be held in this country.

Tue 6/19/01 QUEBEC RESIDENTS WANT $2 MILLION FOR SUMMIT WOES About 650 residents and merchants of Quebec City are looking for $2 million for their trouble during the Summit of the Americas in April.

Fri 6/15/01 6:59 AM Trade secrets By: LYLE STEWART
Trying to keep track of the federal Liberals' trade policy is a little like watching an episode of the X-Files: the truth is out there, but don't expect it from your government.
It's been more than two months since International Trade Minister Pierre Pettigrew triumphantly announced he had won agreement from his 33 counterparts during a ministerial meeting in Buenos Aires to release the negotiating text for the Free Trade Area of the Americas. But long after the tear gas has dissipated from the streets of Quebec City, Canadians and others in the Americas are still waiting and wondering, where are the texts, already?

Fri 6/15/01 6:59 AM Oops!
By: ALLISON HANES For 14 fleeting minutes yesterday, it looked as if 69 days of waiting for the the secrecy-shrouded free-trade deal to be unveiled was over.
At 2:17 p.m., this E-mail landed in the inboxes of thousands of rights activists, environmentalists and journalists: The Web site where the federal government claims the draft text of the FTAA will be made public one day is: www.alca-ftaa.org/

Mon 6/11/01 8:29 AM Best left to the market The enduring legacy of the battle of Seattle and the summit in Quebec City seems to be a movement to make corporations "socially responsible." The debate over the alleged evils of globalization is now focusing on whether corporations should be doing more than simply paying attention to the bottom line.
In Canada, we've now got a commission traveling the country assessing the state of corporate accountability. Co-chaired by former NDP leader Ed Broadbent and Toronto book publisher Avie Bennett, the independently financed commission wrapped up public hearings in Montreal last week and plans to present a set of recommendations to Industry Minister Brian Tobin in August.

Tue 5/22/01 6:59 AM Summit: one month later
By: ALLISON HANES The Gazette
The man flip-flopped like a rag doll atop the chain-link fence as it swayed wildly with the force of countless clawing, angry hands.
In that pregnant moment when all hell broke loose at the Summit of the Americas in Quebec City, all eyes fixed on that symbolic catalyst of the confrontation, all bodies braced for the inevitable battle. The tens of thousands of people amassed on the street with placards and banners held their breath. The phalanx of police lined up behind the security perimeter with helmets and truncheons held their breath.

7/May/2001 Summit failed the indigenous By: KENNETH DEER The Gazette
The Summit of the Americas was the perfect opportunity to correct all the wrongs that have been perpetuated against the indigenous peoples of the Americas, but it failed to do so. All 34 states whose representatives attended the summit are on indigenous land, and all of them have acquired wealth from the resources of that land. But indigenous peoples were left on the outside looking in, and our demands to be recognized as peoples were pushed aside. We had great hopes of change following the remarks made by Prime Minister Jean Chretien, when he mentioned indigenous peoples twice in his opening statement to the heads of 33 other countries. The resulting Quebec Declaration brought our hopes crashing down.

Thu 5/3/01 8:00 PM QUEBECERS HAPPY WITH POLICE PERFORMANCE AT SUMMIT Seventy-nine per cent of Quebecers are satisfied with the work done by police during the summit of the Americas.

April 2001

27/Apr/2001 13:42 Did their cause no favours The recent clashes between protesters and police in Quebec City, largely instigated by the demonstrators, underscore the importance for the anti-globalization movement to keep violence at a minimum if it wants public attention to remain on the issues for which it is fighting. The armoured demonstrators who heaved concrete at police on Friday did no service in the fight against globalization. Thanks to their actions, we will hear less about the fight for human rights, fair trade, humane and equitable working conditions and a cleaner environment throughout all the Americas, and more about pepper spray, tear gas, fences, people tearing down those fences and getting pepper-sprayed for it. [Diana: I agree]

26/Apr/2001 22:52 Corporate voice is too strong for a democracy William Watson and many of your other columnists just don't get it. They seem to think being anti-FTAA means being anti-trade. It makes one wonder whether they have been listening or reading to any of the anti-FTAA rhetoric at all.
Right now, most politicians look to corporate donations to get into power. Therefore, corporations cannot help but have a strong influence over politicians. Most media are also dependent on corporate advertising to finance their activities. This again makes the corporate voice disproportionately strong and cannot help but skew one of the most important voices of opposition in a democratic country.

Mon 4/23/01 7:00 PM CANADA SIGNS TRADE DEAL WITH COSTA RICA One day after the Summit of the Americas concluded in Quebec City, Prime Minister Jean Chrétien and Costa Rican President Miguel Rodriguez oversaw the signing of a free trade agreement between the two countries.

April 21, 2001 Web posted at: 8:03 p.Americas summit 'under control' despite protests Images of protesters clashing with police in Quebec City, Canada

April 23, 2001 Biggest Obstacle to Selling Trade Pact Is Sovereignty By DAVID E. SANGER
The Summit of the Americas showed that a lot happened at the intersection of trade and politics in the eight years when the Republicans were out of the White House. www.nytimes.com/2001/04/23/world/23ASSE.html?ex=989043164&ei=1&en=69ccac90236bca0e

April 23, 2001 nyt Talks Tie Trade in the Americas to Democracy
QUEBEC, April 22 — Pledging equal support to democracy and free trade, 34 leaders of the Western Hemisphere closed a summit meeting today by reinforcing their commitment to a vast Free Trade Area of the Americas, vowing to ensure that its benefits are shared by the hemisphere's 800 million people.

Mon 4/23/01 7:30 AM Accord at summit By: KEVIN DOUGHERTY The Gazette Three days of tension and tumult in the Old Capital ended last night when the 34 heads of government from across the hemisphere flew out of the city, bringing to a close the third Summit of the Americas. At the summit's close, the leaders, from North, South and Central America and the Caribbean, signed the Quebec Declaration, calling for adoption of the Free Trade of the Americas agreement by January 2005, and proposed a democracy clause stating that any country in hemisphere where there was a coup d'etat could be excluded from hemispheric co-operation.

Mon 4/23/01 7:30 AMAll win: Chretien By: ELIZABETH THOMPSON The Gazette
The work done at the Summit of the Americas in Quebec City will strengthen democracy and improve the lives of people across the Americas, Prime Minister Jean Chretien said yesterday.
The leaders also moved to shore up what many believe is one of the most fragile democracies represented at the table, calling on citizens of Haiti to step up their efforts to resolve problems that threaten democracy in the Caribbean nation.

Sun 4/22/01 8:00 PM DEMOCRACY IS A PREREQUISITE TO FREE TRADE The 34 leaders attending the Summit of the Americas will release a political declaration on Sunday which will include a so-called 'democracy clause.'

Sun 4/22/01 8:00 PM SUMMIT VOWS TO FIGHT POVERTY, WIDEN FREE TRADE The leaders of the Western Hemisphere ended the Summit of the Americas Sunday by promising a new era of free trade, with economic co-operation tied to democratic principles.

April 20, 2001 President Bush faces major challenges to fulfilling his promise of using the Summit of the Americas to breathe new life into plans for a hemisphere-wide free trade deal.

April 20, 2001 Free trade profitable
By: L. IAN MacDONALD Montreal's economy and the people of this city are among the principal beneficiaries of free trade, in the sense that the regional economy is more competitive and the population more cosmopolitan.
Both the economy and the people of Montreal are significantly more outward looking as a result of North American free trade. It's apparent in the exploding trade numbers, and in everyday conversations of Montrealers about the multiplying of contacts with Americans and Mexicans.

April 20, 2001: 6:11 a.m. ET Quebec braced for protests
QUEBEC CITY (Reuters) - A ring of steel, more than 6,000 police and thousands of angry protesters will be on hand to greet 34 leaders from nations across the Americas Friday when they open a three-day summit in Quebec City. ...They have a right to protest and we have an obligation to protect the leaders. JC

Thu 4/19/01 10:58 AM On free trade, have a heart - and a brain, too
By: JAY BRYAN The Gazette
The noisy anti-globalization movement that is gathering in Quebec City this week is well-motivated and sometimes constructive in its criticism, but in the end it fails to make sense because it seeks to derail a process that offers a better life to many of the world's poor.
That was the verdict of one of the world's leading international economists, Princeton University's Paul Krugman, who spoke on the proposed Free Trade Area of the Americas at the Conference de Montreal yesterday.

Thu 4/19/01 10:58 AM Bush holds key link, suggests Pettigrew By: ELIZABETH THOMPSON The Gazette U.S. President George W. Bush could play a key role in convincing some countries to agree to linking trade to democracy during the upcoming Summit of the Americas, International Trade Minister Pierre Pettigrew said yesterday.
Pettigrew said a speech by Bush on Tuesday could help ensure democracy becomes a condition of trade.

Thu 4/19/01 10:58 AM Fox looks far north for more trade By: STEPHEN THORNE CP Mexican President Vicente Fox called for stronger relations between Canada and his country as he began a state visit yesterday before heading on to the multi-nation Summit of the Americas in Quebec City.
"Canada holds a very special place in the heart of Mexico," said Fox, 58, whose election last year ended years of one-party domination in Mexican politics.

Wed 4/18/01 7:30 AM Drug cost will soar in FTAA: experts
By: AARON DERFEL
Prescription-drug prices are bound to soar even higher under trade pacts like the one being negotiated this week at the Summit of the Americas in Quebec City, health-care experts say.
From heart drugs to chemotherapy, essential medications represent the fastest-growing expense in health care today. In the past 15 years, Canada's prescription-drug bill jumped 344 per cent, according to a study last month by the Canadian Institute for Health Information.

Tue 4/17/01 7:00 AM BUSH CALLS FREE TRADE IN THE AMERICAS ESSENTIAL U.S. President George W. Bush has made another strong pitch for free trade in the Americas. On Tuesday afternoon in Washington, Bush told members of the Organization of American States that free trade will help their economies, their education systems and democracy itself.

Tue 4/17/01 7:00 AM New U.S. ambassador optimistic about outcome in Quebec The new United States ambassador to Canada says he's not too concerned about the threat of large protests at the Summit of the Americas later this week in Quebec City.
Paul Cellucci said yesterday that he expects the summit, which begins Friday, will be a "successful" step toward creating a new free-trade zone across the hemisphere.

Tue 4/17/01 7:00 AM New U.S. ambassador optimistic about outcome in Quebec The new United States ambassador to Canada says he's not too concerned about the threat of large protests at the Summit of the Americas later this week in Quebec City.
Paul Cellucci said yesterday that he expects the summit, which begins Friday, will be a "successful" step toward creating a new free-trade zone across the hemisphere.

Sat 4/14/01 2:33 PM Poverty or prosperity? By: KATE JAIMET
Free trade will either grind millions of people into desperate poverty or lift workers across the hemisphere into economic prosperity. The vision of the future depends on who is talking, and both sides had their say yesterday as pro- and anti-free traders made speeches leading up the Quebec City Summit of the Americas. At a two-hour press conference, environmentalists, labour leaders and social activists urged citizens to travel to Quebec City and protest against the summit, which they believe favours corporate interests over people.

Sat 4/14/01 8:31 AM 'Sherpas' do heavy lifting on pact By: KEVIN DOUGHERTY
Sherpas for the 34 hemispheric leaders, who will gather in Quebec City next weekend for the third Summit of the Americas, are working through the weekend to reach common positions for what Canada's Marc Lortie says will be a "fantastic" summit. Sherpas? They are the bureaucrats and experts who do the heavy lifting of negotiations and deal-making in preparation for the free-trade summit.

Sat 4/14/01 8:31 AM Deal could founder in Quebec
By: PETER HADEKEL
The Summit of the Americas in Quebec City has been hailed as a great opportunity to advance the prospects for a hemispheric trade deal stretching from Alaska to Argentina. A Free Trade Area of the Americas would include 800 million people with combined economic output of $9 trillion U.S., creating what would be the largest regional trade bloc in the world.
It's an exciting prospect for many - but also an elusive one. The challenge of negotiating a trade agreement among 34 very different economies with diverging national interests is enormous.

Thu 4/12/01 7:31 AM Protesters are fighting to save capitalism
In his appropriate defence of globalization's detractors (Column, April 6), Lyle Stewart used the term "corporate communism" to describe our present turmoil. This might appear ironic, but it bears a truth I wish to expand upon. Throughout their arguments, advocates of freer trade and corporate globalization continually profess to act in the interests of capitalism.

Thu 4/12/01 7:31 AM Globalization? It's 5,000 years old By: JAY BRYAN The Gazette
With the rhetoric being sharpened up and the demonstrations choreographed in preparation for next week's hemispheric summit in Quebec City, Karl Moore is able to observe the unfolding crisis with a little more equanimity than most. Moore, like most thinking people, shares some of the concerns expressed by those who are skeptical about the benefits freer trade might confer on the poor or the environment, and he would be happier if these concerns were addressed in any new trade deal.

Sun 4/8/01 7:00 PM CANADA PRAISES DEAL TO RELEASE TRADE DRAFT The federal government says a historic agreement has been reached that will forever change the way trade negotiations are conducted.

Sun 4/8/01 4:31 PM Summit secrecy broken By: SUE MONTGOMERY Canada's trade minister claimed victory yesterday in persuading his 33 counterparts to make public the text of the proposed Free Trade Area of the Americas pact, as labour, human-rights and environmental groups have been demanding for months.
"This is a historic day for us, for the countries in the hemisphere and, I would say, for the future of all trade negotiations," Pierre Pettigrew said after wrapping up two days of marathon negotiations to set the groundwork for the leaders' summit this month in Quebec City.

Sat 4/7/01 7:00 PM ARGENTINA MEETING SETS STAGE FOR QUEBEC SUMMIT Trade ministers from 34 countries have gathered in Argentina - a prelude to the April 20-22 Summit of the Americas scheduled for Quebec City.

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Quebec launched its own summit Web site yesterday to promote its views leading up to the meeting. Like the federal government's site, it is in four languages: French, English, Spanish and Portuguese.
- Quebec's official summit site: www.quebecameriques.com & Espanol or Potugués
The federal government's official summit site: americascanada.org & U.S.

The pre-Summit of the Americas' events are numerous and quite interesting.
Carrefour Amérique latine displays a list of meetings that will take place from now up to the Summit at the following address: cal.fsa.ulaval.ca/nouveau_new_novo_nuevo.html

Further details about all sorts of activities concerning the Summit are posted in our special section dedicated to the Summit 2001:cal.fsa.ulaval.ca/sommet/Autourdusommet.html

FACT SHEET: HIGHLIGHTS OF SUMMIT ACCOMPLISHMENTS SINCE 1994
Prepared by the Office of Regional Economic Policy and Summit Coordination, Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs, U.S. Department of State www.usinfo.state.gov/regional/ar/summit/fact5.htm

March 2001

Tue 3/20/01 Quebec summit to feature more than one agenda By: KEVIN DOUGHERTY One month from today, on April 20, Quebec City goes prime time on the world's all-news networks as the heads of all 34 sovereign nations in the Americas and the Caribbean - except for Cuba - led by George W. Bush and Jean Chretien, converge here for the third Summit of the Americas.
Heading the agenda of the leaders' meeting, which continues April 21 and 22, will be the Free Trade Area of the Americas, a proposal to extend free trade from Alaska to Argentina by 2005.

Sun 3/11/01 8:01 AM FTAA poses big risk By:Mi> ARTHUR SANDBORN
In April, the heads of state of 34 countries are meeting in Quebec City for the Summit of the Americas. They will be discussing a treaty to create the Free Trade Area of the Americas. The FTAA is as important for the citizens of the Americas as the creation of the European Economic Community was for the residents of that continent. The decisions taken by our political leaders will have an impact on our social programs, our living conditions, our economy and our democracy.

07 March 2001 USTR Zoellick on U.S. Trade Policy
U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick is urging Congress to take steps toward approving "fast track" trade agreement negotiating authority, adding that such actions will aid President Bush at the Summit of the Americas in Quebec City on April 20.

01 March 2001 Ambassador Charles Manatt on the Summit of the Americas
The Quebec Summit Can Give Us the Free Trade that Will Spark Prosperity and Reform Throughout the Hemisphere The Third Summit of the Americas, to be held in Quebec City, Canada, April 20-22, 2001, Will be of great importance to both the Dominican Republic and the United States. The Quebec meeting will be the first summit for our newly elected presidents. Our president, George W. Bush, will use the meeting to highlight the region's importance in our foreign policy, and what he has identified as the need to "promote a fully democratic Western Hemisphere, bound together by free trade."

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