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[OPIRG-EVENTS] Sue Clark CHAINS herself to...
P R E S S R E L E A S E FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Sue Clark Disabled Activist cellular - 613-290-9259
David Creighton CAP Candidate Ottawa West Nepean 613-728-5716
Raymond Samuels Cap Candidate for Ottawa Vanier 1888-377-2222
Mike Clancy CAP Candidate for Brantford 519-758-9134
Jane Scharf CAP Candidate for Leeds and Grenville 613 658-5384
Paul Hellyer CAP Party Leader 1-877-629-0841
Connie Fogal CAP President (604) 687 0588 work
Desperate Situations call for Desperate ACTION
RE: Sue Clark will chain herself to the gate of the PM's House 24 Sussex
12 years of deprivation has led Sue Clark to this act of desperation. On
Monday November 20, 2000 at 10:00 am Sue will chain herself in protest to
the gates at the Prime Minister's mansion on 24 Sussex Drive in Ottawa.
Sue visited Jane Stewart's office in Brantford on November 1, 2000 and
voiced her concerns about the Liberals gutting all the programs for
vocational rehabilitation (voc rehab) of disabled persons in Canada. Sue
traveled to Brantford with the assistance and support of several members of
the Canadian Action Party who paid for her transportation, meals and
lodging. As well, two party members Jane Scharf and Mike Clancy went to
Stewart's office with Sue to provide her support through her protest and
arrest. An assistant of Stewart, Scott Allison told Sue he would look into
the situation to see what options for voc rehab are available to her. Then
at one minute after four pm she was arrested for refusing to leave the
office until her issues were dealt with. Sue went back to Ottawa without
even the time of day from Jane Stewart and a song and dance from her Mr.
Allison. The police were good to her ,however , and showed great compassion
and concern for her plight. They arrested her on the orders of Stewart's
staff and escorted her outside the building and then respectfully released
her without condition. They never laid a hand on her and before they
arrested her one officer said "do not worry I know how to deal with post
traumatic stress sufferers because I have this condition also". To date, no
one has gotten back to Sue from Stewart's office.
This time Sue is bringing her protest to the Prime Minister himself. Sue
has exhausted all formal appeal proceedings to deal with her requests for
voc rehab and in spite of the fact that she won her appeal the provincial
and federal governments are refusing to provide her with any help with voc
rehab.
Sue says, "I will not let the various governments in Canada squash me from
getting my education...
David Creighton, CAP represenative for Sue Clark's riding of Carleton West
Nepean says, "I wholeheartedly support the right of my constituent Sue
Clark to obtain the vocational training to which she is legally entitled
under the Canadian Constitution and Charter. Unfortunately Sue's case is
"only" the heroic tip of the "free trade" iceberg. The agreements that
Mulroney-Chrétien signed without consulting us require that ALL public
services be eventually put up for sale to foreign speculative investors and
corporations. "That means not only vocational training but all public
education, and also all publicly funded health care services, all
environmental protections, under the General Agreement on Trade in Services
(GATS) presently being negotiated in secret.
Sue Clark really represents all Canadians, not just the disabled. Foreign
corporations and their Liberal minions have good reason to fear Sue, and
the Canadian Action Party that stands behind her. "
Mike Clancy , CAP candidate for Brant says, "I was told as a Human Resource
Developme/nt worker that I was not permitted to approve retraining programs
for disabled persons. I refused to comply with these orders because to do
so would be a violation of equality rights so I was forced to resign after
17 years of service. The Liberals have cancelled all three federal
programs for the vocational rehabilitation of disabled persons. They have
cancelled the Federal voc rehab program, the Canada Pension voc rehab
program and the HRDC voc rehab program. The Federal government has removed
the national standards requiring the province to provide voc rehab for
disabled persons. The province can do what they like with the money
transferred to assist disabled persons. Therefore, Ontario is still getting
the money but they also cancelled the provincial voc rehab program when
they brought in the Bill 142. Our party fully recognizes the desperation
Sue is feeling trying to get help to get back to work. This is truly a
corporate agenda we are operating under now that does not want disabled
persons in the work place.
Jane Scharf, CAP candidate for Leeds and Grenville says, I am outraged by
the blatant contempt shown towards the disabled by Chretien and his minions
such as Jane Stewart. The Canada I envision does not involve excluding
people who have disabilities. I know Sue Clark, she has a great soul and
many talents and abilities that are being squandered because we are letting
the multi-nationals dictate to our government that they must keep the
disabled out of the workplace."
Raymond Samuels, candidate for Ottawa-Vanier the riding where the Prime
Minister resides at 24 Sussex says, "my riding has been seriously effected
by the erosion of funding for schooling and training for the disabled.
Rockliffe Park Public School for example that once schooled former Prime
Minister Trudeau's children and proudly displayed a copy of the Charter of
Rights and Freedoms signed by Pierre himself has now taken down the charter
and locks out disabled children. A case in point is Zachary Bonnah who is
locked out because the school no longer provides any help for disabled
students. We have to stand together and fight against these attacks on the
most vulnerable because ethical responsibility and our own human integrity
dictates it.
Kenneth Fernandez LLB, BCL, Constitutional and International Affairs
Consultant for the Canadian Action Party says, "what is happening to Sue is
not only immoral it is also unconstitutional. Section 36 and 15 still
obligate the governments to support equalization of the disabled. The
Canadian Action Party, can make the link between this shameful
discrimination against Sue Clark, and the government's implementation of
the IMF's privatization i.e. Americanization agenda. The IMF briefing notes
that we have in our possession, obtained through the Access to Information
Act clearly indicate that the IMF requested that the government divest
itself of active participation in maintaining viable social programmes of
national dimensions."
Connie Fogal, CAP's Constitutional Lawyer spearheading the lawsuit against
the Federal Government over so called "free trade "agreements, says, "it is
the unconstitutional provisions of FTA and NAFTA that is driving the
governments to abandon the commitment to rehabilitate the disabled. NAFTA
requires money to be spent in the interest of business not in the interest
of the Canadian citizens. Unfortunately big business has decided they do
not want the disabled. It is imperative that FTA and NAFTA be scrapped and
further so called "Free Trade" negotiations currently taking place be
abandoned or all remaining social, education and health programs will be
gutted in favour of corporate greed. "
Party leader Paul Hellyer says, "All of this regressive social change is
being promoted in the name of laissez-faire economics which insists that
governments are bad and markets are good. In the name of globalization
government-owned services must be privatized and cease being accountable to
sovereign citizens. Even basic services like health and education are on
the block as Sue Clark found out when trying to get help with her
education. Globalization in my opinion is the highway to poverty,
homelessness and disease for tens of millions of people of this earth. The
hope for Canadian's is not in "free trade" agreements it is in "fair trade"
agreements."
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