This June, the G8 is meeting in Huntsville and the G20 is meeting in Toronto. These two upcoming events have received increasing amounts of media attention, but very little has been reported about what these organizations actually are or what they do.

These summits will be met with energetic resistance, just as they have been all over the world. But what are the G8 and G20, and why do people oppose them?

On Saturday June 26, the apex of the planned days of action against the G8 and G20, I arrived in Toronto with a busload of activists, students and steelworkers from Hamilton. Our bus disembarked at the Steelworkers Hall on Cecil St., and the day began with speeches, a free barbecue and re-connecting and reminiscing with protest friends from all across Ontario. The steadily pouring rain couldn’t dampen our collective enthusiasm, and we left for Queen’s Park at 1 pm chanting slogans, waving banners and passing out leaflets. At Queen’s park we excitedly saw our numbers swell to well over 25,000 people, as gropagebups converged from all over the city for the big People’s March against the G8/G20. I was covering the march for Mayday Magazine, a Hamilton-based independent publication, and had my camcorder at the ready.

Much like the ‘dog that didn’t bark’ in the famed Sherlock Holmes’ story, the conspicuous media silence surrounding Haiti’s political past points straight to the heart of the mystery of Haiti’s shocking poverty.

For there is little doubt that the purely man-made catastrophe that lends Haiti the dubious distinction of holding title as the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere, has contributed mightily to the tragic loss of life in its recent natural catastrophe.

Unlocking, then, the rich, if tragic, chest of Haiti’s past is a necessary prerequisite if we have any pretensions to helping Haiti in the future.

As of this February 6th it will have been four years ago that Stephen Harper and the Conservative Party formed Canada’s government. Unable to win a majority in two elections, Harper and company have nonetheless been actively pursing a far-Right political agenda since gaining power, all the while wrapping themselves in the flag and presenting a tightly controlled, “compassionate conservative” facade.