As 1999 drew to a close the campaign to win freedom for the wrongly imprisoned journalist and former Black Panther Mumia Abu-Jamal gained significant ground in Canada.

On November 29 delegates to the Bi-Annual Convention of the 600,000 member Ontario Federation of Labour (OFL) unanimously passed a resolution from the St. Catharines & District Labour Council calling for staying the death sentence imposed Mumia Abu-Jamal and his unconditional release.

The resolution also called on the OFL to provide active and ongoing support for the campaign to win his freedom. Immediately following the unanimous adoption of the resolution a group of delegates from the convention took their message of Ontario labour support for Mumia Abu-Jamal to the doorstep of the U.S. Consulate in Toronto.

Just over a week later members of the Canadian Autoworkers (CAW) Left Caucus mobilized to get a similarly worded emergency resolution to the floor of a CAW Council meeting being held in Toronto.

With the backing of the CAW Council's Human Rights Committee the resolution was unanimously adopted. The decision effectively throws the support of the 238,000 member union fully behind the international compaign to free Mumia Abu-Jamal.

This support from the OFL and the CAW complements earlier decisions by the Canadian Union of Postal Workers and the Ontario Secondary School Teachers Federation to support the release of Mumia Abu-Jamal.

Now it is up to the Canadian Labour Congress to follow up on these actions and make the voice of the principal labour organization in Canada heard concerning this most urgent human rights issue.