Mountain Equipment Update

For Immediate Release

Canada-Israel Committee expresses satisfaction with decision of Mountain Equipment Co-op (MEC) members to reject Israel boycott

Vancouver, April 30, 2009. In a widely publicized Annual Meeting held this evening in Vancouver, MEC members voted to reject a motion that would have asked the MEC Board to boycott goods manufactured in Israel.

“We’re delighted with this decision, which should be taken as a ringing endorsement of MEC’s outstanding policy on ethical sourcing”, said CIC’s Pacific region chairman Dr. Michael Elterman. Observing that the British Columbia Teachers’ Federation group PAGE was a key supporter of the defeated pro-boycott resolution, Elterman observed that MEC’s current policy has allowed the company to use its purchasing power to encourage progressive principles like workers’ rights and environmental sustainability in such countries as China, where these are novel concepts.

“MEC members across the country were outraged by this attempt by a few hard-line ideologues to hijack the agenda of one of Canada’s most socially responsible organizations”, Elterman concluded. “We’re hopeful that this matter is now definitively closed.”