Quebec Spring at Rio+20

While the Harper Government tries to ram through the adoption of Bill C-38, which would weaken environmental regulations and attack those who seek to enforce them, the team from Alternatives is heading to the People’s Summit for Social and Environmental Justice, which is taking place in parallel with the United Nations Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. The Québec delegation will arrive there on Saturday morning (June 16).

One of the objectives of this participation is to mobilize the international community around those Canadian and Québec issues which also have a global reach. "At the environmental level, frightful things are occurring in Canada that have impacts not only here at home but elsewhere: the withdrawal from Kyoto, the avowed increase in bituminous oil sands production, the halt to environmental assessments," underlined Michael Lambert, Director-General of Alternatives. "It’s important," he continued, "for the international community to support our campaigns against these projects that are environmentally destructive, not only in Canada but everywhere else".

For Roger Rashi, Campaigns Coordinator at Alternatives, it’s important to take advantage of the unprecedented mobilization of April 22 in Montréal, when 250,000 people rallied for the protection of the common good and against the calamitous environmental policies of Ottawa and Québec. This massive popular rally, just like the Quebec Spring, has revived a great deal of hope at a moment when there seemed to have been very little left. "Thus, we are arriving in Rio in a spirit of mobilization, of critique and of hope," he concluded.

The Québec delegation is being coordinated by Alternatives, the YMCAs of Québec, and UniAlter. Altogether, there are 77 persons who will leave tomorrow evening for Brazil.

For further information

In Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, available as of Saturday, June 16:

Michel Lambert, Director General, Alternatives : 011- 5521- 6943-9671

Roger Rashi, Campaigns Coordinator, Alternatives : 011-5521-6943-9672

Arij Riahi, Journal des Alternatives, Alternatives : 514-756-7051