Why hasn’t Canada signed the UN Nuclear Ban Treaty?
Register for the webinar: November 19th, 6:30PM
Join a webinar on the need for Canada to sign the UN Nuclear Ban Treaty, featuring Liberal MP Hedy Fry, NDP MP Heather McPherson, Green Party MP Elizabeth May, Bloc Québécois MP Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe as well as Setsuko Thurlow, survivor of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima who jointly accepted the Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons.
Canada has not joined 122 countries represented at the July 2017 UN Conference to Negotiate a Legally Binding Instrument to Prohibit Nuclear Weapons, Leading Towards their Total Elimination. It has also declined to sign the resulting UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, which recently garnered its 50th state signatory meaning it will enter into force in 90 days.
Nuclear weapons constitute one of the most serious threats facing humanity. Nuclear explosions over cities could quickly kill tens of millions. 1% of the 13,400 nuclear weapons in the world could disrupt the global climate and threaten billions with starvation in a nuclear famine.
Canada's 2017 defence policy ignores the threat nuclear weapons pose to human survival (North Korean nuclear weapons are mentioned once). But, the defence policy, “Strong, Secure, Engaged” makes two dozen references to Canada’s commitment to the nuclear-armed NATO alliance.
The Trudeau government asserts it cannot ratify the UN Ban Treaty because of Canada’s membership in NATO, which has a nuclear weapons first-strike policy.
The NDP, Greens & Bloc Québécois have all called on Canada to adopt the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. Some Liberal & Conservative MPs, as well as thousands of Canadians, have also called on Canada to adopt the Treaty.
As the UN Ban Treaty is about to become international law, this discussion on Canada’s policies on nuclear weapons with Members of Parliament is more urgent than ever.
Guests:
Setsuko Thurlow was thirteen years old when she witnessed the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. She has been a leading anti-nuclear weapons activist in Canada and globally and jointly accepted the Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons in 2017.
Dr. Hedy Fry, first elected as Liberal MP in Vancouver Centre in 1993, is a member of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development. She is the co-chair of Parliamentarians for Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament Canada.
Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe is the Bloc Québécois MP for Lac-Saint-Jean. He is Vice-Chair of the Subcommittee on International Human Rights of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development as well as of the Standing Committee on National Defence.
Heather McPherson, the NDP MP for Edmonton Strathcona, is the Deputy House Leader of the New Democratic Party, NDP Critic for International Development, and Deputy Critic for Foreign Affairs.
Elizabeth May has been the Green Party MP for Saanich-Gulf Islands in B.C. since 2011 and is the Green Party Parliamentary Leader in the House of Commons.
HOSTS:
Organizers: The Canadian Foreign Policy Institute and The Hiroshima Nagasaki Day Coalition (Toronto)
Co-sponsors: PeaceQuest, Science for Peace, Les Artistes pour la Paix
Media Sponsor: Canadian Dimension
endorsed by:
Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama`at Canada
Antigonish Raging Grannies
Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility
Canadian Federation of University Women
Canadian Friends Service Committee
Canadian Network to Abolish Nuclear Weapons
Canadian Voice of Women for Peace
Coalition for Responsible Energy Development in New Brunswick
Friends of Rotary (FOR) Prevention of Nuclear War
Greater Toronto Chapter, National Association of Japanese Canadians
Hamilton Coalition to Stop the War
Hiroshima Nagasaki Day Coalition (Toronto)
International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War Canada
Inter-Church Uranium Committee Educational Co-operative
McGill Students for Peace and Disarmament
Mouvement Québécois pour la Paix
National Association of Japanese Canadians
National Council of Women of Canada
Ottawa Peace Council
Ottawa Quaker Meeting, Peace and Social Concerns Committee
Ottawa Raging Grannies
Paul Maillet Centre for Ethics
Pax Christi Toronto
Peace Quest Cape Breton
Project Ploughshares Saskatoon
Regina Peace Council
Soka Gakkai International Association of Canada
Tao Sangha Global Community
Toronto Article 9
Toronto Association for Peace & Solidarity
Toronto Raging Grannies
VOICES for Sustainable Environments and Communities
Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (Vancouver)
INDIVIDUAL ENDORSEMENTS:
John Polanyi, Nobel Laureate
Joy Kogawa, poet, novelist, author of Obasan and Gently to Nagasaki.
International Endorsements:
Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom
International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN)
French posting:
Please see Les Artistes pour la Paix/Artists for Peace website.
Share on Facebook:
Facebook event.
Resources:
Why Won’t Canada Back a Nuclear Weapons’ Ban? | The Tyee | By Bianca Mugyenyi
No Shelter from the Storm| Cape Breton Spectator | by Sean Howard
Appel de Mme Setsuko Thurlow au Premier ministre | Les Artistes pour la Paix| par Pierre Jasmin
Armes nucléaires – deux bonnes nouvelles | L’Aut’ Journal| par Pierre Jasmin
Let reason guide our actions in the Atomic Age| Canadian Pugwash Group | by John Polanyi
Elizabeth Renzetti https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-a-new-global-treaty-bans-nuclear-weapons-but-why-didnt-canada-sign/
Motoko Rich, "Witnessing Nuclear Carnage, Then Devoting Her Life to Peace," https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/06/world/asia/hiroshima-japan-setsuko-thurlow.html
Douglas Roche https://pugwashgroup.ca/75-years-after-hiroshima-i-wonder-if-the-goal-of-abolishing-nuclear-weapons-is-just-a-dream/
Michael Swan, "Nuclear Arms and Canada" https://www.catholicregister.org/item/32339-nuclear-arms-and-canada
Setsuko Thurlow https://pugwashgroup.ca/canada-must-acknowledge-our-key-role-in-developing-the-deadly-atomic-bomb/
Setsuko Thurlow's June 2020 appeal to Prime Minister Trudeau http://hiroshimadaycoalition.ca/data/uploads/to-the-right-honourable-justin-trudeau.pdf
Anton Wagner, "Canada and the Atom Bomb" http://hiroshimadaycoalition.ca/data/uploads/canada-and-the-atom-bomb.pdf
Anton Wagner, “Mackenzie King Opens the Atomic Pandora’s Box” http://nikkeivoice.ca/mackenzie-king-opens-the-atomic-pandoras-box/
The November 19 webinar was so successful that the peace groups that endorsed it decided to organize an Appeal to Parliament calling for a debate and public hearings on the UN Nuclear Ban Treaty. Their January 20 display ad in the Ottawa Hill Times follows. If you or your organization would like to endorse this Parliamentary Appeal, please contact Anton Wagner at antonwagner337@gmail.com before January 17.
