February 8, 2001

Hon. Paul Martin, P.C., M.P.
Minister of Finance House of Commons
Ottawa, Ontario, K1A 0A6

Dear Minister Martin:

On behalf of the Canadian Ecumenical Jubilee Initiative and the Halifax Initiative Coalition, we wish to congratulate you on your decision to place a moratorium on the debt servicing re-quirements of eleven of the world's most heavily indebted poor countries. We believe that this measure, in the spirit of Jubilee, is a welcome contribution to ending the Third World debt crisis. Over the past two years Canada's leadership has played no small part in similar initia-tives by the UK, the US and France. Your initiative indicates to us a willingness to hear the concerns and arguments that we have expressed to you in person and through the petitions and letters of hundreds of thousands of Canadians who believe that it is time to give the poorest countries a new beginning.

Canada cuts debt of poorest countries
Third World owes up to $1-billion
 
HEATHER SCOFFIELD
The Globe and Mail
Tuesday, 19 December, 2000
 

The Dakar Declaration for the Total and Unconditional Cancellation of African and Third World Debt

Dakar 2000: From Resistance to Alternatives

Dakar, Senegal | 11-17 December 2000
 
We, participants at the "Dakar 2000 meeting for the cancellation of Third World debt", representing African people's civil societies, supported by civil societies from Latin America, Asia, Europe and North America, from the analysis of the debt issue, of structural adjustment plans (SAPs) and development.

Realize that:

1. Third World debt to the North is at once fraudulent, odious, illegal, immoral, illegitimate, obscene and genocidal;

The Köln Debt Initiative: An Initial Response

In many ways, it can be seen as the end of the beginning, rather than the beginning of the end.-Roy Culpeper, President the North-South Institute

The Köln Initiative, measured by its rhetoric, is two steps forward, one step backwards. In reality we may not have moved much at all.- Derek MacCuish, Programme Coordinator, Social Justice Committee of Montréal

The Halifax Initiative, a broad-based coalition of Canadian non-governmental organizations, welcomed the desire to improve the HIPC Initiative by the G7 governments expressed in the Köln Debt Initiative. Unfortunately, this welcome is qualified by the concern that two major issues remain unresolved, so that the effort to lift the debt burden of the poorest countries remains insufficient. The welcome is also qualified due to a wariness of the gap between what the G7 may wish and what the IFIs may do.

Canada is being less than charitable: Debt-cancellation policy means less than it might seem. ( PDF file )

This submission analyses the report of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade (SCFAIT) entitled "Exporting in the Canadian Interest: Reviewing the Export Development Act". Our recommendations are primarily concerned with Chapter 9 of the Report on the Review of the Export Development Act (hereinafter the Gowlings report).

I am the Coordinator of the Halifax Initiative.

Debt aspects related to export credit agencies
The cancellation of Third World debt has been a rallying cry of social movements for years, gaining in volume and numbers in 2000 as a result of the global Jubilee movement. Much attention has been focused on the debts owed by poor countries to the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. However, export credit agencies collectively own more debt of Third World countries than the World Bank and the IMF combined.

October 8, 1999

Hon. Pierre Pettigrew
Minister for International Trade
Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade
125 Sussex Drive
Ottawa, ON
K1A 0G2

By FAX: 996-8924
Eight pages including this page

Dear Minister Pettigrew,

This letter contains the formal response of the Working Group on the EDC to the Report on the Review of the Export Development Act, conducted by the firm Gowling, Strathy & Henderson.

The Working Group on the EDC is a coalition of Canadian non-governmental organizations concerned about the human and environmental impact of export financing agencies. The Working Group, which is a project of the Halifax Initiative, promotes adherence by export credit agencies, particularly the Export Development Corporation, to internationally accepted standards regarding human rights, environment and sustainable development.

HIPC Initiative will not serve the world’s poorest with the IMF in control
28 Sept. 1999
The Halifax Initiative coalition of development, labour, human rights and environment organizations is deeply concerned that debt relief is still inappropriately conditioned on compliance with IMF-directed programs. The debt crisis continues to be used as a lever to force open economies, an inexcusable manipulation of poverty and human tragedy. The heart of the problem is that final control of the program remains in the hands of an unreformed IMF.