News – Page 2 – Trade Justice Network

Category: News

Monopolizing The Vaccine Webinar- Registration Here!

Hear from global experts about the South African–Indian joint proposal to temporarily waive certain WTO intellectual property rights to help all countries respond to the COVID-19 emergency—and Canada’s disappointing opposition to the idea. Mustaqeem De Gama, Counsellor at the South African Mission in Geneva accredited to the WTO and UN. Sangeeta Shashikant, Legal Advisor and […]

Letters from Civil Society: WTO Waiver from TRIPS around COVID-19 measures

At the World Trade Organization in October 2020, South Africa and India brought forth a proposal for a “Waiver from certain provisions of the Agreement on Trade- Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) for the prevention, containment, and treatment of COVID-19”. The government of Canada, along with other wealthy nations such as the U.S., […]

Feminist Foreign Policy- Submission to Global Affairs

“While gender equality, especially in education and employment, contributes to economic growth, the reverse is not true; economic growth does not contribute to gender equality nor to improvements in health, welfare or basic rights.”[i] Ottawa- Monday, November 30, 2020 Dear Global Affairs Canada, We are writing to you on behalf of the Trade Justice […]

Corporate power in global trade: Will corporations sue states for measures taken to combat COVID-19?

Jesse Whattam, Co-ordinator of Trade Justice Network Over the past four months, Canadian governments have taken unprecedented measures to minimize the spread of COVID-19 as governments worldwide have enforced lockdowns, closed borders, changed public policy and provided various stimulus packages. As the pandemic has spread, we have witnessed politicians across the spectrum articulate a struggle […]

Letter to Ministers- Need For Fairer and More Transparent Trade Agreement Process

Ottawa- Friday, February 21st, 2020 Dear Ministers, We are writing you on behalf of the Trade Justice Network, which is comprised of environmental, civil society, student, Indigenous, cultural, farming, labour and social justice organizations that have come together to challenge free trade agreements and their impacts on social justice and the environment. We seek to […]

Image depicting an anti-CETA protest in Europe

Open Letter: French politicians should not ratify CETA

Ottawa – Monday, July 15, 2019 – As France begins its ratification process of the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) between Canada and the European Union, we, civil society organizations and individuals from across Canada and Quebec, echo our French counterparts’ call on members of the National Assembly and Senate to vote against this […]

Save Roşia Montană: The fight against ISDS in Romania

A new video released Monday, June 24 profiles one community’s fight against the effects of investor state dispute settlement (ISDS). For 20 years, residents of beautiful Romanian town Roşia Montană have fought plans to build a toxic gold mine, which would have destroyed their home and the environment. They stopped the project in court, where […]

Why does Canada continue trade talks with extremist Bolsonaro government?

Image credit: Government of Canada Canada continues to engage in negotiations with the right-wing extremist Bolsonaro government of Brazil, as part of the Canada-Mercosur Free Trade Agreement talks. The Bolsonaro government is explicitly anti-feminist, anti-LGBTQ+, anti-black, anti-Indigenous, anti-worker and anti-environment — the very opposite of the values the Trudeau government claims to hold. Canadian labour, […]

CUSMA: Not the progressive deal Canadians were promised

As the Canadian government takes steps towards ratifying the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA), known widely as the new NAFTA or NAFTA 2.0, many concerns remain for all people in Canada. At the outset of the rollercoaster negotiations beginning in August 2017, Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland outlined the “progressive trade” principles that her government committed […]

More than 300 Civil Society Groups Call on Governments to Reject Digital Trade Talks in the World Trade Organization (WTO)

The Trade Justice Network joined over 300 civil society organizations – including global union federations, development advocates, consumer organizations, and environmental groups – from more than 90 countries in delivering a letter to WTO members. As some countries have launched preliminary talks on e-commerce trade, the civil society groups warn governments of serious dangers and urge them to […]