HomeMy WebLinkAboutHuron Expositor, 2007-04-25, Page 10Page 10 April 25, 2007 • The Huron Expositor
News
St. Anne's social justice committee
to ban Coca Cola for its corporate
Stew Slater
Considering the agenda included
a presentation from students enti-
tled "Coca Cola: the Corporation
that Kills," it would seem safe to
predict the transnational beverage
maker's image would suffer some
serious blows at a regular meeting
of the Huron -Perth Catholic District
School Board on Monday, April 23.
And indeed, that was the case.
Anna Brenner and Dave
Devlaeminck, members of the St.
Anne's Secondary School Students
for Social Justice, reported to
trustees about their research into
Coca Cola, before requesting that
all of the company's products be
banned from the board.
"According to the Catholic social
teaching, it is our duty, as a
Catholic school board, to ensure
that our affiliations and company
ties respect the dignity of the
human person
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and ensure
environmental
stewardship."
Devlaeminck
quoted directly
from a couple of
Huron -Perth
policies and
goals, before
arguing Coca
Cola's practices
around the
world are not in
keeping with
the spirit of
those policies.
"We have to
ask ourselves
why Coca Cola
does not give its
employees the
standard of liv-
ing they should
have," he said.
Drawing from
their own research as well as
insight from a workshop held at
King's College at the University of
Western Ontario, the two students
outlined practices they suggested
-are indicative of the corporation's
unacceptable record.
These include drawing down pre-
cious groundwater resources in
India and Chiapas, Mexico, as well
as intimidation of union leaders in
Colombia, Turkey and Pakistan.
In India, Brenner added, the com-
pany sells a byproduct of its manu-
facturing process as a fertilizer,
even though it contains dangerously
high levels of cadmium and lead.
The students were congratulated
for their report by a couple of
trustees, as well as Education
Director Larry Langan. Langan
credited St. Anne's staff advisor
Erma Weernink for "making stu-
dents aware of issues that are
important to humankind."
Students for Social Justice is now
in its second year, with between 20-
25 members.
They've been involved in such ini-
tiatives as
"Making Poverty
asks board
practices
History" and pressuring Huron
County to sign on to the United
Nations water declaration defining
clean water as a human right.
South Huron trustee Mike Miller
wondered why Coca Cola was cen-
tred out, when it's quite possible
other multinational corporations
could be accused of similar trans-
gressions.
Devlaeminck responded that
"we're focusing on one issue at a
time, and Coca Cola is recognized as
a major violator of human rights
around the world."
Brennrer added that the corpora-
tion was high on a 2005 list of ques-
tionable companies compiled by a
group called Global Report.
The students showed a list of over
two dozen schools and universities
which have passed or are in the
process of developing bans on Coca
Cola products.
As for the Huron -Perth board,
there seemed to be appreciation for
the students' efforts but there was
no immediate response to their
request.
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Susan Hundertmark photo
Storyteller Bruce Carmody visited St. James School last week to give the gift of sto-
ries to students of every grade.