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WINDSOR - Thousands of people, including several CPTers, gathered in Windsor, Ontario from June 1-6 to protest OAS-approved economic policies.

On Sunday, June 3, CPTers and others gathered for a brief prayer service in Dieppe Gardens, a war memorial next to the meeting site, where earlier a rally had been held. The group planted seeds of corn as a sign of resistance and hope in solidarity with the Abejas, forty-five of whose members died in a massacre at the hands of Mexican paramilitary groups in co-operation with the Mexican military. The Abejas are one group among many in the Americas who are opposed to the policies of free trade being pursued by most governments of the OAS. The OAS is a central body involved in attempting to organize the Free Trade Area of the Americas by 2005.

Earlier, a group of about thirty-five people, supported by hundreds more, peacefully blocked a bus carrying delegates into the OAS meeting site. The thirty-five were arrested by police using pepper spray, although the protesters offered no resistance to being arrested. The following day, a group of about one hundred people, including many high school students, briefly blocked the entrance to the grounds of a plush restaurant where delegates were being taken for lunch.

As the blockade was going on, members of the group conducted a teach-in about the OAS, including the fact that the current OAS president, Cesar Gaviria, presided over 350 massacres in his own country of Colombia while he was president in the early 90's.

CPTers present spoke of the Abejas' form of resistance: being willing to die but not to kill. They also spoke of how onlooking members of the Ontario Provincial Police Tactical and Rescue Unit had probably been present when OPP officer Kenneth "Tex" Deane killed Dudley George of the Aazhoodane First Nation while George was nonviolently defending sacred burial grounds that had been taken from his people.

In preparation for discouraging people from participating in public actions and teach-ins during the days of gathering, police erected a fence in a twelve block radius around the OAS meeting site, and maintained a heavily visible presence throughout the city. Luis Anderson, a Panamanian representative of labour at the Sunday rally commented on how the atmosphere in the city reminded him of Chile or Colombia. "The only things missing are the tanks on the streets," he said.

Tim Nafziger, a CPT supporter from Goshen, IN, was turned away from the border after telling Canadian border officials that he planned to take part in the protests. In the days leading up to Sunday, over 500 people were turned away at the border, a number far in excess of normal.

CPTers present during the actions were William Payne of Toronto, ON, Gina Lepp of Harrow, ON, and Joel Klassen of Kitchener, ON.