Jorge Barrera
Northern News Services
Yellowknife (Apr 25/01) - With whistles, drums, placards and a truck plastered with anti-capitalist slogans about 50 demonstrators marched through downtown Saturday to protest the hemispheric trade agreement under negotiation in Quebec City.
| MP supports trade
Western Arctic MP Ethel Blondin-Andrew supports free trade and said her constituency office is open to all people despite the chain-link fence propped against her office's doorway during a protest last Saturday. "They're entitled to their opinion but their opinion has nothing to do with that reality," she said. Blondin-Andrew said the Summit of the Americas accomplished what it had set out to do by setting up a democracy clause as part of the final agreement. Under that clause any country with an un-elected government would be barred from the table. Blondin-Andrew also brushed aside Northern critics of free trade by saying the North's regulation regime will continue to be enforced. "Not one (of the mining and gas companies staking out the North) could get around our tax system," she said. "They're all subject to it," she said. "They weren't happy with the taxes but they have to pay."
Blondin-Andrew said the government is accosted on both sides. One side asking for stricter regulation regimes and the other asking for less. "We have to maintain a balance," she said. |
"We want to stop the FTAA and what they're doing," said seven-year-old Amber O'Reilly.
"It only helps the rich," she said.
They marched from the Public Services Alliance of Canada building, past City Hall, down 53 Street to Franklin Avenue and Western Arctic MP Ethel Blondin-Andrew's constituency office then back to the Prince of Wales Heritage Centre. At Blondin-Andrew's office they planted a piece of chain-link fence against the door with placards that said "this is what democracy looks like," and, "only the rich and powerful enter."
Yellowknife city councillor Ben McDonald, speaking through a megaphone with the fence to his back, told the marchers they didn't have to look any further than Giant mine to see "corporate robber barons."
"We should neither believe nor trust politicians in matters of free trade," said McDonald.
Anke Tuininga, 60, said she was marching to assert her right to freedom of expression.
"We need to have equality and a voice in matters that impact us," said the psychotherapist.
Rae-Edzo resident Joseph Zoe, 39, marched because he fears small businesses will face increasing obstacles in the North.
"I'm concerned that everyone should have an equal opportunity," he said. Before the march the demonstrators paused for a 30-second moment of silence in support of protestors facing tear gas, rubber bullets and water cannons in Quebec City.
"Do you want your schools, hospitals opened up the highest bidder?" Suzette Montreuil of Alternatives North said through a megaphone.
Thousands of activists from all over the world converged on Quebec's capital to push for trade agreements that include democratic, labour and environmental standards. Critics of the FTAA charge that the agreement focuses exclusively on removing barriers to trade and not on enforcing hemispheric environmental, human rights and labour policies. Proponents argue that opening up trade paves the way for higher standards of living. Protester Peter Cizek from Ecology North doesn't believe open trade will increase standards in poor nations.
"We need to realize capitalism is like a cancer," said Cizek.
