Letter PSAC sent to Roberto, announcing the Roberto Miranda Education Fund

December 2, 2010

Roberto Miranda
6 - 201 Station Boulevard
Ottawa, Ontario
K1 G 6N9

Dear Brother Miranda:

I and many others at the Public Service Alliance of Canada have been concerned and greatly saddened by the news of your struggle with cancer and how difficult these recent times have been for you and your family.

We are extremely proud to count you among our Union family, and honoured that you chose to get involved in the PSAC. You have made a difference. Many of us remember meeting you for the first time at a bargaining conference in Ottawa, shortly after the creation of the PSAC Social Justice Fund in 2003. You spoke passionately of your personal journey as a trade unionist in your home country of Guatemala, the sacrifices you made in standing up for workers' rights, the importance of international solidarity, and why our Union needed to build a strong Social Justice Fund.

You have steadfastly supported the PSAC Social Justice Fund in many ways ever since. For example, we owe to you the success of the Education-in - Action project. You founded, coordinated and led this unique on-the-ground collaboration with Mayan cooperative coffee growers in Guatemala which combines the promotion of fair trade coffee with education on international solidarity, human rights, social justice and social change. Today, Education-in- Action lives on and continues to be inspired by your vision as educator and human rights' activist.

Today, we offer you a very concrete thank you for your contribution and commitmentto the SJF. On behalf of the Social Justice Fund Steering Committee, it is my honour to inform you of our recent decision to create the Roberto Miranda Education Fund. This unique Fund, which will carry your name, will be dedicated to education on international solidarity and social justice. Members of the PSAC will directly benefit from this Fund through "education-inaction" initiatives that will enhance their understanding of why our solidarity can know no bounds.

Again, Brother Miranda, many thanks from your Union family. Our thoughts are with you.

In Solidarity,


John Gordon
National President

N.E.: Please click here to download the letter in PDF format