Phyllis Creighton
Science for Peace/ Canadian Network to Abolish Nuclear Weapons
Mr. / Madam chair, ladies and gentleman: It is an honour to speak to
you now. In August 1945, as a girl of 15, I felt horror and grief.,
when I learned of the atomic bombing and the terrible suffering inflicted
on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. My country is contradictory. And
I am angry.
Through our Canadian Network to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, a parliamentary
committee review Canada's Nuclear policies and we got our government
to acknowledge in 1999 that eliminating nuclear weapons is the only sustainable
strategy. But Canada remains in NATO, a nuclear alliance. We
got Canada to press for NATO's review last year to cover the nuclear component.
NATO reaffirmed its NPT undertaking to abolition. But it insisted
that nuclear weapons remain essential to its security! We also worked
to get Canada to support The New Agenda Coalition at the UN. Canada
put a representative of our
network on its delegation to the NPT conference. And it helped
get all of NATO, except for France, to vote for the New Agenda resolution
last fall.
Despite our repeated protests, Canada allows NATO to do low level fighter-bomber
training in Labrador over unceded aboriginal lands. And though the
NAC resolution says a negotiated binding instrument is needed for a nuclear-weapon-free
world, Canada does not support UN resolutions to this end.
The network meets regularly with government officials. Science for
Peace puts pressure on the government by developed advice. Veterans Against
Nuclear Arms is holding a photo exhibit in several cities with the atomic
bombs at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, pictures to stop people. Polls show
93% of Canadians want our government to join in negotiating an abolition
convention, but nothing happens.
And we are still straggling to get our government to say NO to US missile
defence, despite our public meetings, web sites and letter-writing campaign.
We met with numerous numbers of parliament and with the Minister of National
Defence. We provide evidence that missile defence is the first stage in
the US plan to weaponize space and maintain global dominance. We
caught newspaper and TV attention and support, and we have three peace
magazines.
Canada knows the only defence against nuclear weapons is to abolish
them. It must stop balancing its NATO and disarmament roles.
It must work with the new agenda countries to implement its commitment
to abolition. We are the country that used partnership between civil society
and governments to produce the Land Mines Ban Treaty. We try to hold
the government to its promises. Why not collaboration between citizens
and governments to their abolitionist words into actions?
Like the Japanese people Canadian are under the shadow of the US.
We who long for a world at peace must turn our anger into passion.
As I watched the flickering lanterns moving down the river in Hiroshima
on August 6th, I felt the undying love they represent and the courage that
made Hiroshima and Nagasaki rise from the ashes. Nuclear weapons
are the ultimate evil?our moral passion can and must free the world of
the terror of the apocalyptic end of humanity.