Canadian Jesuits International supports the current global campaign for a waiver from certain provisions of the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Agreement around COVID-19 medical technologies so that vaccines can be made available to people in low- and middle-income countries.
Without the waiver, low- and middle-income countries don't have the ability to manufacture vaccines, and they will have to rely on pharmaceutical companies and wealthy countries for charity or go without access to lifesaving medicines and technology.
Write to Prime Minister Trudeau (and your MP) and ask the Government of Canada to support the TRIPS waiver and to play its part in reimagining global governance that paves the way for a just future for all.
You can use the sample letter below, copy and paste it on an email, sign and send it to the Prime Minister (and your MP). Please make sure to copy the Minister of Small Business, Export Promotion and International Trade and the Minister of Foreign Affairs. Their emails are in the sample letter.
June 15, 2021
A discussion on the barriers to access COVID-19 vaccines for the world’s poorest people with internationally renowned speakers Fr Charles Chilufya SJ, Dr Sunita Narain, Dr Katrina Plamondon and Dr Jeffrey Sachs.
The Jesuits are adding their voice to the many individuals and groups in the Church and civil society which are advocating for equity and justice in the production and distribution of vaccines especially for marginalized and vulnerable communities all over the world.
April 13, 2021 - CJI joins other civil society organizations across the globe in asking Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Director General of the World Trade Organization to remove barriers towards the development, production and approval of vaccines, therapeutics and other medical technologies necessary for the prevention, containment and treatment of the COVID-19 pandemic.
On March 10, 2021, several non-governmental organizations, trade unions and civil society organizations, including CJI, sent an open letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau urging the Government of Canada to support global access to COVID-19 vaccines at the WTO.
On March 5, 2021, Fr Agbonkhianmeghe E. Orobator SJ, President of the Jesuit Conference of Africa and Madagascar (JCAM) wrote to Lisa Stadelbauer, Canadian High Commissioner to the Republic of Kenya, urgently requesting the Federal Government of Canada to support the proposed TRIPS Waiver.
Fr Charles Chilufya SJ, Coordinator of the Africa Task Force of the Vatican Covid-19 Commission, and the Director of the Justice and Ecology Office of the Jesuit Conference of Africa and Madagascar (JCAM), explains the importance of this global effort.