It is not only the people of Africa being relegated to the sidelines but also millions throughout the world.

For example, the G 8 countries together pledged less than one-fifth of what the United Nations says is necessary to stop the preventable deaths of women and children under the age of five throughout the world.

The agreement to cut deficits by 50 per cent of 2013, if implemented, will fall squarely on the poorest of the world. Public investments in education, health, municipal infrastructure and community development will be sharply reduced. Unemployment will increase even further.

In promoting this agenda of privatization and social spending cutbacks,  Harper is following the wishes of the so-called B 20 -- those select handful of powerful business leaders who were in fact
invited into the G 20. Harper himself admitted we have no more sovereignty and Canadians should face that fact. This is an abdication of governance and of responsibility for building national and
international policy to create a fair and inclusive economy for all.

Stand against Project Hero and the glorification of war

We the undersigned urge Canadian universities and colleges not to participate in "Project Hero," a program in which post-secondary institutions waive tuition and course fees for "children of fallen soldiers."  Children of deceased members of the Canadian military already have access to benefits through the Children of Deceased Veterans Education Assistance passed in 1953.  These benefits cover course fees and tuition as well as a monthly living allowance.

Project Hero is not about aid to the children of deceased soldiers, as their needs are already being met.  Rather it is a political effort to justify Canadian participation in the war in Afghanistan and glorify militarism on our campuses.  We do not believe our colleges and universities should be participating in this kind of political campaign masked as a student aid program.

We support the effort by University of Regina faculty members to raise the issue of Project Hero on their campus.  We are deeply concerned about the response they have met in the form of hate mail, threats and calls for their dismissal.  They have every right to raise these issues, and it is essential that free discussion and debate about foreign policy and the role of the military be allowed without vilification and threats of retribution.  The University of Regina Administration and the broader community must strongly defend the academic freedom of these faculty members.

For two years we have been talking about Copenhagen.

Two long years, campaigning for a fair, binding and ambitious deal. A real deal that would protect our planet’s environment and see justice for all humanity that depends upon it. These two years come at the end of seventeen years, since the Rio Summit, when the world established the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, a framework designed to address the threat of climate change.

As I am writing this, I am in Copenhagen watching the talks in overtime. They have been running continuously for the past 48 hours as leaders scramble to produce something of substance.
Before reflecting on this outcome, lets go back to the beginning of the COP-15. During the opening of the conference, Christina Ora, a youth delegate from the Pacific, spoke prophetically to the powers of this world outlining her hopes and fears. She stated:

“I am 17 years old. For my entire life, countries have been negotiating a climate agreement. My future is in front of me. In the year that I was born, amid an atmosphere of hope, the world formed the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change to solve the climate crisis…. In the Solomon Islands, my homeland, communities on low-lying atolls are already being displaced by rising sea levels. Communities have lived on these atolls for generations. Moving from one province to another in the Solomon Islands is not just like moving house. Your land is your identity. It is part of your culture. It is who you are.

"I am scared, and so too are the people from these atolls about what this means for our culture, our communities and our identity. Because of climate change, I am uncertain about what is to come. How can I feel that my future is safe? How can I be sure that my home village won’t disappear in 10 years’ time? How can I be sure that my community won’t have to find a new home? How can I be sure that I will be able to raise my children in the same place that my mother and father raised me? I am not sure. I am scared and worried.