[Pigeon Lake] 'Building Bridges and Sharing Struggles II', the second workshop sponsored by the Alberta Federation of Labour to explore common ground and possible cooperative actions between the labour movement and the aboriginal community, will be held at the Pigeon Lake Recreational Centre on Friday, April 30, 2004.

"We are very optimistic that our continuing dialogue with the aboriginal community is going to create an effective and exciting new relationship between the aboriginal community and labour," said AFL Secretary Treasurer Kerry Barrett, who will open the workshop. "We know that there it will take time to build trust and cooperation between the two groups, but we feel that our many common interests in social and economic justice provide the basis for cooperative action."

Linda Bull from the Saddle Lake First Nation and Stan Knowlton from the Piegan Nation will address the workshop in the morning. Heather Smith from the United Nurses of Alberta and Mark Voyageur from the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union will provide a labour perspective.

In the afternoon, participants will engage in small group discussions about how labour and the aboriginal community can find common ground. The closing plenary will focus on developing future planning strategies.

The workshop was planned and coordinated by the Alberta Federation of Labour's Human Rights and International Solidarity Committee.

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For more information contact:

Kerry Barrett, AFL Secretary Treasurer at 483-3021 (wk) or 720-8945 (cell)