Open letter to Prime Minister Stephen Harper:
I am an educator, the recipient of the Council of the Federation Literacy Award this year for the Yukon territory. I am very concerned over the treatment of fellow educators in Honduras.
There have been military and police attacks on demonstrators at the National Pedagogical University Francisco Morazan in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, on August 26 and 27. These were nonviolent protesters, teachers and their supporters. The attacks have caused many injuries and there have been detentions.
Many rounds of tear gas and live bullets were fired. When people trapped at the university tried to escape, they were beaten, including pregnant women.
It is time that your government supported the democratic aims of educators and social movements in Honduras. Please assure me and other educators that you will:
Â¥ Suspend all aid to the Lobo administration, which is a government established by coup and therefore illegitimate;
Â¥ Stop all lobbying for recognition of the undemocratic government of Honduras;
Â¥ Recognize and support the Honduran people’s demand for a Constituent Assembly to establish a functioning, participatory democracy.
I anxiously await hearing from you about what you and your office will do about this intolerable situation.
Eleanor Millard
Whitehorse