News release

October 5, 2004

PSAC donates funds to support relief efforts in Caribbean, Sudan  

OTTAWA …The Public Service Alliance of Canada is donating a total of $60,000 from its Social Justice Fund (SJF) to respond to crises in the Caribbean and Sudan .

The spate of hurricanes that hit the Caribbean recently has left hundreds of thousands of people, particularly in Haiti , without shelter, clean water and food and vulnerable to outbreaks of diseases, such as cholera and typhoid. While in Sudan , an estimated 50,000 people have died and more than one million have been displaced by an uprising that began in 2003.

“The situation has grown more desperate in Haiti , which has a long history of political instability, as the efforts of aid agencies to distribute food and water are compromised by growing insecurity,” says PSAC National President Nycole Turmel.   “ Sudan is another area that needs immediate attention. The UN has called the situation there the world's worst humanitarian crisis.”

Turmel adds that contributing to emergency relief is one of the mandates of the PSAC Social Justice Fund, which was established as a bargaining priority during the union's national convention in 2003. With a bargaining demand at all tables for employers to contribute one cent per hour worked per union member, the SJF helps finance social justice, development and crisis relief activities in Canada and internationally.

The PSAC-SJF will provide the following donations to support relief efforts in the Caribbean and Sudan :

•    $25,000 to Doctors Without Borders, which is providing health services in Haiti ;

•    $25,000 to Oxfam Canada , which is providing relief programs in Darfur , Sudan , and Chad ;

•    $10,000 to the Canadian Labour Congress Appeal for Humanitarian Aid for Hurricane Victims in the Caribbean .

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For information:            Joselito Calugay, PSAC communications officer,                                           (613) 560-4235 or (613) 293-9324                                      

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