John’s contributions to the life, political direction and heart of the solidarity work carried out by Common Frontiers over its nearly 30-year lifetime have been immense – perhaps impossible to quantify.

We are eternally grateful for his foundational contributions to the incredibly important cross-Canada advocacy and solidarity work in the fight against free trade agreements in the 1980s and 90s and to the work he continued to do, even in his final years, to support, guide and inspire our collective work.

As a co-founder and active member of the Latin American Working Group (LAWG), which, at the time, was focused on the Dominican Republic, Chile and the southern cone, and Central America, John was a visionary and knew there was an urgent need to move discussions and strategies forward into the era of trade agreements and the transnational threats they posed to people and the planet. It was clear to him and others he was organizing with at the time that work needed to be done between Canadian and Mexican institutions to prepare for what was to come – the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). And so together with other key individuals and organizations and, through LAWG, they founded and helped to grow Common Frontiers.

With the shift of focus from the fight against a US-Canada agreement toward a tri-national agreement that would include Mexico, John worked with others to regroup with the Action Canada Network and with a number of different organizations, including those who were part of the Toronto Committee/Coalition against Free Trade. At the time, John was co-chair of the Toronto Committee, along with Marjorie Cohen of the National Action Committee (NAC) on the status of women, the leading feminist organization in Canada at the time. The Toronto Committee against Free Trade had a number of sectors– cultural organizations, media, the NAC, the Labour Council, some sectoral unions, the Canadian Environmental Law Association (CELA), NGOs and church connections, notably GATT-fly which became the Ecumenical Coalition for Economic Justice (ECEJ).

John was a key participant, along with 30 Canadians and 60 Mexicans at an October 1990 gathering called “Confronting Free Trade” held in Mexico City. For three days, the Canadian delegates shared their experience of US-Canada free trade and together, they formalized an important and strategic bilateral north-south alliance, which they would later extend to connect with organizations in the US to form the foundation for the tremendous fight against NAFTA that ensued and to lay the groundwork and relationships for an eventual expansion across the hemisphere to form the Hemispheric Social Alliance and fight against the notorious Free Trade Area of the Americas, which was ultimately successfully stamped out.

But John’s commitment to the trajectory of Common Frontiers does not just lie in the past. As the coalition met for its first in-person gathering since the COVID pandemic, in September, 2024, John was integral in sharing his historical perspective with coalition members and supporting the strategic thinking and revisioning of a coalition now faced with new demographic realities and the rise of new right wing influences, from Canada to Argentina.

It was a pivotal turning point that required renewed and re-envisioned collective action and transnational solidarity. Common Frontiers would not be able to face these challenges, without the inspiration, long-term vision, creativity and enduring support of John Foster. He has been a dear friend and mentor to many of us. His immense wisdom and the committed and heartful way that he shared it has left a permanent mark on Common Frontiers.

The United Church of Canada, where John worked as a staff officer for eighteen years up until 1989, has been a vital part of the Common Frontiers coalition, and it remains so to this day, thanks to John’s foundational work and the work of those who came after him and those who are there today.

We share our deepest sympathies with his family, friends, community and all those whose lives were touched by him. May he rest in peace and in power.