ABSTRACT
In January 2008, coalitions of North American civil society groups issued a statement demanding that the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) be renegotiated.1 The coalitions represented a wide range of church, labour, women’s, environmental, social justice, human rights, senior and student groups critical of NAFTA as well as the efforts to deepen continental integration through the North American Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP). The four North American coalitions – the US-based Alliance for Responsible Trade (ART), Common Frontiers and Réseau québécois sur l’intégration continentale (RQIC), both of Canada, and the Mexican Red Mexicana de Acción frente al Libre Comercio (RMALC) – were renewing their struggle against continental integration that had begun 20 years earlier during the negotiation of the Canada-US Free Trade Agreement (CUSFTA). As an alternative to the neo-liberal framework that had shaped North American integration, these coalitions sought to establish continental economic relations based on social justice and sustainable development and called for greater transparency and enhanced civil society input into schemes for deepening integration.
