Winnipeg Conference Discusses Issues of Popular Sovereignty and Democracy

On February 2 in Winnipeg, over 115 people spent the entire day discussing the impact of the ongoing attacks on sovereignty and democracy on various aspects of life here and ways to build a movement for popular sovereignty and democracy in Canada. The conference, which took place at the University of Winnipeg, was co-sponsored by the Structured Movement Against Capitalism, the Canadian Union of Public Employees, the Canadian Union of Postal Workers, Canadian Dimension magazine, the Council of Canadians, the Canadian Federation of Students, the New Politics initiative, the Movement of Filipino Workers of Manitoba, the National Farmers Union, Mondragon Bookstore & Coffeehouse and CKUW radio.

Following opening remarks on behalf of the co-sponsoring organizations, the conference broke down into smaller workshops to discuss sovereignty and democracy in relation to peace, the economy, Aboriginal peoples, security and human rights, labour, education, social programs, the environment and culture. The workshops began with presentations by panels of political and social activists, followed by discussion, including discussions of a practical program of action to build the movement for democratic sovereignty.

Following four hours of discussion, the conference reconvened in a plenary session to make plans for the future. Two main programs of work were adopted. The first was to actively organize for the September 10 action in Cancun, Mexico against the World Trade organization summit taking place there. The second was to organize a Winnipeg social forum on sovereignty and democracy in the middle of November in conjunction with the Edmonton Parklands Institute. There were also a number of smaller projects proposed by the workshop participants.

The conference concluded with the adoption of a number of resolutions, including: opposition to a U.S. war against Iraq; support for a multi-national sovereignty project in Canada; support for the struggle of the peoples of the Middle East for a just and lasting peace; support for the struggles of the peoples of Latin America against imperialism and for sovereignty and democracy; and opposition to imperialism. A resolution was also adopted demanding that the Manitoba government abandon its proposed legislation to prevent municipalities from establishing their own environmental standards at levels higher than those of the province. The legislation was introduced in response to the complaints of various large corporate hog producers that such measures by municipalities are impeding their ability to build enormous hog barns in many rural areas.