September 2003

Horizons of Friendship
Partner Visit: Miguel Pickard, Centre for Economic and Political Research for Community Action (CIEPAC)
Chiapas, Mexico
October 5-19, 2003

The Community Outreach Program facilitates direct contact between people and groups in Canada and Mesoamerica through visits to Canada by our partners in the South. Partner visits bring representatives of our partner organizations in Central America and Mexico. These visits seek to motivate Canadians to understand the root causes of poverty and injustice and be active regarding global issues

Horizons of Friendship is supporting the work of 17 partner organizations in Central America and Mexico. One of these organizations is the Centre for Economic and Political Research for Community Action (CIEPAC) in Chiapas, Mexico.

CIEPAC is a non-governmental, civil organization founded in 1998 in San Cristóbal de Las Casas, Chiapas, Mexico with the mandate to carry out research and analysis of the economic, political, social, and human rights conditions in Chiapas, in order to offer its findings to diverse social groups working for peace and searching for feasible and sustainable development alternatives in Chiapas, Mexico and abroad

Miguel Pickard, is a Mexican-born, economist and researcher, co-founder of CIEPAC in San Cristóbal de Las Casas, Chiapas. Miguel graduated with a BA from Cornell University in New York and a Masters’ degree in Economic Sciences from the National Autonomous University in Mexico (UNAM). Miguel has been working with CIEPAC as a researcher, and the focus of his work centres on the effects of Plan Puebla Panama (PPP) and related trade themes like the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the proposed Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA). Miguel is bilingual in Spanish and English.

Miguel Pickard will speak about the impact of Free Trade in Mexico, the WTO meeting in Cancun, and the search for local alternatives to economic policies, which are having devastating social development effects in the world.

You are invited to attend public presentations in:

Ottawa: Tuesday, October 7
Carleton University
516 Southam Hall
7:00 pm – 8:30 pm
http://www.carleton.ca/opirg/

Cobourg: Wednesday, October 8
Trinity United Church
15 Chapel Street
7:30 pm – 9:00 pm

Kingston: Thursday, October 9
Queens University
Location Mc Corry B-204
1:00 pm – 2:30 pm
http://www.queensu.ca/snid/list.htm#oct9

Montreal: Saturday, October 11
Social Justice Committe of Montreal
1:30 pm – 4:00 pm
Location: TBC
http://www.s-j-c.net

Peterborough: Tuesday, October 14
Trent University
7:00 pm – 8:30 pm
Champlain College Lecture Hall (CCS 307)
http://www.trentu.ca/ids/events.html#pickard

Toronto: Wednesday, October 15
12:00 noon -1:30 pm
CIDEC/CTD Lounge (10 South) OISE
http://cide.oise.utoronto.ca/

or

Alternative Grounds Café
7:00 pm – 8:30 pm
333 Roncesvalles Avenue
http://www.alternativegrounds.com/

For more information about Miguel Pickard’s Speaking Tour:
Please contact Jessica Farias 1-888-729-9928 ext.24
Email: info@horizons.ca