Syria Support Movement solidarity with the Syrian people
Following his participation in the Third International Trade Union Forum conference in Damascus, organized by Syria’s General Federation of Trade Unions (GFTU) and supported by International Confederation of Arab Trade Unions (ICATU) and the World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU), Brother Donald Lafleur was put on administrative leave from his duties as
Executive Vice-President of the Canadian Labour Congress.
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Whereas
* Brother Donald Lafleur has had a long history of dedicated work and leadership in the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW ) and the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC). He has been Executive Vice-President of the CLC since 2014.
* Brother Lafleur was PERSONALLY invited to an international conference organized by the Syrian General Federation of Trade Unions, an affiliate of the World Federation of Trade Unions. The conference was focussed on lifting Western economic sanctions on Syria and respecting Syria’s sovereignty.
* Because he is concerned for workers in all countries and because the Syrian conflict has directly impacted Canadian workers, Lafleur went to Syria to observe the conference and see the situation first hand. He went to “listen and learn.”
* Donald did not address the conference at large nor did he indicate he was representing the CLC. The visit was personal with zero expense to the CLC. He went with his partner, Cécile, using his vacation time. Together, they learned a lot about the conflict in Syria, the consequences of Western sanctions, and the “regime change” war.
* On his return, Brother Lafleur has been subject to neo-McCarthyist attacks in various media as if it is illegal to visit Syria. It is not.
* Following on the media witch-hunt, Donald was stripped of his duties as CLC Vice-President on September 19 and put on administrative leave.
We note that:
The Harper and Trudeau governments have spent tens of millions of Canadian tax dollars supporting the US/Saudi “regime change” war on Syria and have repatriated tens of thousands of Syrians to Canada.
Scores of Canadians have been deceived or brainwashed into joining ISIS or Nusra (Al Qaeda) trying to topple the Damascus government.
Most of the “rebels” are actually the Syrian version of Al Qaeda. According to the Syrian General Federation of Trade Unions, over 40,000 of its members have been killed or wounded during this conflict, including postal workers, who were videotaped, while being pushed to their deaths by “rebels”, off the top of their postal facility in 2012.
It is scandalous that Brother Lafleur is being punished for using his own time and money to learn more about a conflict impacting Canadian workers and expressing his solidarity with Syrian workers. He should be praised for his curiosity and courage, not reprimanded. We call for the immediate restoration of Brother Lafleur to his full roster of duties as Executive Vice- President of the CLC.
