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Debt Workshop: Who Owes Whom?

What you can Do

Arrange an SJC presentation for a group in your area, for example, a school, church, community, or women's group. At these presentations, we use our popular education tools to explain debt and global economics in a simple, accessible way. After the presentation, we will explain the advocacy part of the campaign and give people a chance to get involved.
Spread the word to people in other areas. Word–of–mouth has brought us our best contacts.
Let us know of key people you think we should contact in your area or in other organizations.

To book a presentation or for more information, please contact us at (514)933-6797 or This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

The Workshop

The SJC offers a popular and highly engaging workshop on debt. Led by an experienced speaker, this workshop presents an excellent opportunity to discuss and learn about this global issue. The presentations last an average of an hour and thirty minutes. They only require a wall on which pictures can be posted. Any number of people can attend, and while all SJC presentations are free of charge, honorariums are greatly appreciated.

Who Owes Whom? is a presentation on the debt crisis of impoverished countries. This interactive workshop (presented in English or French) travels across time, from colonization to the 21st century, to explore the origins of debt and poverty across the world. From Christopher Columbus to Bretton Woods, passing by the Cold War and structural adjustment funds, it offers a unique opportunity to learn about this international issue.

Why Debt is a Problem

One of the root causes of Third World poverty and hunger is the demand that those countries use all their resources to repay enormous foreign debts. Those debts were often contracted by repressive dictatorships which stole all the borrowed money for their own use. To repay their debts, countries are forced by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank to adopt structural adjustment programmes (SAPs). These involve privatizing such essential public services as water distribution, and opening up economies to transnational corporations and free trade, actions with a devastating impact on people's lives. While many countries in Africa and the Americas are currently facing drought and famine, the IMF and the World Bank continue to insist on debt repayments and SAPs, preventing governments from helping their people.

In 2000, after pressure from the Jubilee 2000 campaign, the Canadian federal government promised to cancel many debts owed to Canada, but it has done little to cancel the debts owed to the IMF and the World Bank, although Canada is a member of both. Nor has it called for an end to SAPs.

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