The AMWU has been working with international trade unions to try to end the use of asbestos around the world. On Tuesday night, the ABC's Foreign Correspondent program highlighted one aspect of our campaign.
Watch a summary of the program at this link to the ABC website.
Please copy the letter below or send it as an email to Canada's Consul-General to add your name to the many thousands calling for Canada to stop its deadly export trade.
sydny@international.gc.ca (this is the correct email address)
Mr. Mario Ste-Marie,
Consul General of Canada
Level 5
111 Harrington Street
Sydney NSW 2000
An open letter to the Canadian government
On Tuesday, 8 November 2011, the ABC’s Foreign Correspondent program reported on the ticking time bomb of asbestos related disease in India.
Foreign Correspondent showed that Canada, a first world country with strict domestic controls on asbestos, hides behind Indian law to continue its export of deadly asbestos to the poor of Asia and the sub continent. The program asked the obvious question: how are Indians expected to be able to use this carcinogen safely when first world nations failed and have banned and still fail to use it safely. The Canadian government is influenced by the powerful asbestos lobby group, despite the fact that the industry employs fewer than 500 Canadians. Canada’s legacy in India, even if they ceased their trade in asbestos now, will be to continue to bring death and misery to tens of thousands of India workers and their families for decades to come.
Canada has fine record and tradition of leading the world in social reform. But Canada’s continued participation in the export of asbestos to developing countries is a dark stain that overshadows that record.
Australian asbestos victims and their supporters once again call upon Canada as a developed country which has some of the strictest domestic controls over the use of asbestos in the world, to recognise its social responsibility to those who receive their deadly product. The Canadian government and the Canadian people need to accept the profound global implications of its continuing production and export of asbestos.
I wish to add my name to the hundreds of thousands across the globe calling for Canada to end its deadly trade.
Sincerely,