Categories
News

#CanadaStopArmingSaudi 2023 Days of Action to End the War in Yemen

photo of a bombed building with text on top reading 8 Years of War on Yemen

Canada has blood on its hands.

March 26 2023 marks eight years of the brutal Saudi-led intervention in the war in Yemen. A war that has killed an estimated 377,000 people. Over 5 million people have been displaced because of the war, and a staggering 21.6 million people are in desperate need of humanitarian assistance, as 80 per cent of the country’s population struggles to access food, safe drinking water and adequate health services.

The Saudi-led coalition has bombed Yemeni markets, hospitals, and civilians, and yet Canada has exported over $8 billion in arms to Saudi Arabia since 2015, the year the Saudi-led military intervention in Yemen began. It’s despicable for Canada to be profiting from selling billions in arms to Saudi Arabia.

The war in Yemen must stop! Antiwar and peace activists and organizations are marking 8 years of the war on Yemen with days of action from March 25-27, 2023.

 

Le Canada a du sang sur les mains.

Le 26 mars 2023 marque les huit ans de l’intervention brutale de l’Arabie saoudite dans la guerre au Yémen. Une guerre qui a tué plus de 377,000 personnes. Plus de cinq millions de personnes ont été déplacées à cause de la guerre, et 21,6 millions de personnes ont désespérément besoin d’aide humanitaire, alors que 80 % de la population du pays lutte pour avoir accès à la nourriture, à l’eau potable et à des services de santé adéquats.

La coalition dirigée par l’Arabie saoudite a bombardé les marchés, les hôpitaux et les civils yéménites, et pourtant le Canada a exporté pour plus de 8 milliards de dollars d’armes vers l’Arabie saoudite depuis 2015, année du début de l’intervention militaire dirigée par l’Arabie saoudite au Yémen. Il est méprisable que le Canada profite de la vente de milliards d’armes à l’Arabie saoudite.

La guerre au Yémen doit cesser ! Les militants et organisations antiguerres marqueront les 8 ans de la guerre au Yémen par des journées d’action du 25 au 27 mars 2023.

 

Statement on the war in Yemen
Canada-Wide Peace and Justice Network – March 2023

As the  war in Yemen enters its eighth year, the Canada-Wide Peace and Justice Network calls on the Trudeau Liberal government to end its complicity with the aggressors—the Saudi-led coalition—and to help the victims, the people of Yemen.

Who are the parties to this war?


In 2015, a coalition led by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates started a brutal bombing campaign and a military intervention in Yemen against the Ansar Allah movement (also known as Houthis). The stated goal of the Saudi-led coalition was to reinstate the deposed former president Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi. Thus, an internal dispute in Yemen became an international military intervention led by Saudi Arabia and backed by the United States, United Kingdom (UK), France, Canada, Germany and Italy.

Yemen is a land of rich history and ancient civilization; beautiful and complex culture; and resilient people. The Yemeni people deserve to determine the future of their country freely without any foreign military intervention or coercion. The Saudi-led war in Yemen is an attack on Yemen’s sovereignty and self-determination.

The humanitarian situation

Saudi Arabia’s war in Yemen has killed hundreds of thousands of people and wreaked havoc on the country. The United Nations has declared the Yemen war to be the worst humanitarian crisis in the world.

This war breaks the conditions of the Geneva Convention by deliberately targeting civilians and civilian structures, schools, markets, hospitals, roads, water tanks, sanitation facilities and places of worship in Yemen, as documented by Amnesty International, Human Rights  Watch, Médecins Sans Frontières and the United Nations.  

A staggering 21.6 million people in Yemen require some form of humanitarian assistance in 2023, as 80 per cent of the country’s population struggles to access food, safe drinking water and adequate health services. Multiple  emergencies have pummeled the country: violent conflict, an economic blockade by the Saudi-led coalition, currency collapse, natural  disasters and the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Canada’s role 

Canada has played a huge role in perpetuating this disastrous war. One of the first actions of the newly-elected Trudeau government in 2015 was to reaffirm the signing of a $15 billion deal to sell Light Armored Vehicles  (LAVs) to Saudi Arabia. This was the largest arms exporting contract in Canadian history and included training in the use of the vehicles. Canada also trained Saudi pilots in Alberta and Saskatchewan. 

Canada continues to sell weapons and military equipment to Saudi Arabia and the UAE. The United Nations panel of experts on Yemen has twice named Canada, in 2020 and 2021, as one of the states fueling the ongoing war in Yemen. Canada provides well over $1 billion in weapons to Saudi Arabia and the UAE every year. 

U.S. military support for Saudi Arabia has been constant since the war began, even in the face of a 2019 UN report revealing that Saudi Arabia was committing war crimes and that its Western supporters were complicit. In Canada, many politicians want to keep the war profits from weapons sales rolling in. These war profiteers and our compliant media cheer on the proxy war in Ukraine and are mute as the war in Yemen drags on.  

Alarmingly, a Breach (Canadian online investigative news outlet) investigation shows that this complicity extends to the Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. As it reported, the Canadian government is buying two aircraft, for $133 million, for a fleet to be used by the prime minister. The seller is a company controlled by notorious Saudi Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman.  

It’s despicable for Canada to be profiting from selling billions in arms to Saudi Arabia and the UAE. Owen Schalk, writing in Canadian Dimension, summarizes the situation: 

Canada’s involvement in the war on Yemen can be explained in two words: blood money. It is that  simple, and there is no excuse for the federal government’s consistent facilitation of these weapons  transactions, no matter how many pathetic justifications they conjure up. You can’t make  nationwide famine disappear by insisting upon the importance of Canadian manufacturing jobs. You can’t eliminate the Houthis’ domestic popularity by blindly applying the “Iran-backed”  descriptor to any discussion of their resistance. And Yemen can’t wait for the Liberal Party to grow a conscience.  

Our demands 

We call on the Trudeau Liberal government to take these steps to permanently end Canadian complicity in this war: 

  • Cancel active and pending sales of Canadian arms (light armored vehicles and other weapons) to Saudi Arabia and the UAE. 
  • Call on the Saudi-led coalition to end its illegal military offensive. 
  • Call on the Saudi-led coalition to fully lift the land, sea, and air blockade on Yemen.
  • Open unconditionally the door to all Yemeni refugees under the same terms as has been done for Ukrainian refugees. 
  • Increase humanitarian aid to Yemen to an amount that will be meaningful given the scale of misery and destruction that Yemenis have suffered in this eight-year war. After the Canadian government cancels the $15 billion LAV sale, they must donate the refunded amount (after penalties) for humanitarian aid in Yemen. 

Déclaration sur la guerre au Yémen
Réseau pan-canadien pour la paix et la justice – Mars 2023

Alors que la guerre au Yémen entre dans sa huitième année, le Réseau pan-canadien pour la paix et la justice demande au gouvernement libéral de Trudeau de mettre fin à sa complicité avec les agresseurs – la coalition dirigée par l’Arabie saoudite – et d’aider les victimes, le peuple du Yémen.

Qui sont les parties à cette guerre ?
En 2015, une coalition dirigée par l’Arabie saoudite et les Émirats arabes unis a lancé une campagne de bombardements brutale et une intervention militaire au Yémen contre le mouvement Ansar Allah (également connu sous le nom de Houthis). L’objectif déclaré de la coalition dirigée par l’Arabie saoudite était de rétablir l’ancien président Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi dans ses fonctions. Ainsi, un conflit interne au Yémen s’est transformé en une intervention militaire internationale menée par l’Arabie saoudite et soutenue par les États-Unis, le Royaume-Uni, la France, le Canada, l’Allemagne et l’Italie.

Le Yémen est un pays à l’histoire riche et à la civilisation ancienne, à la culture belle et complexe, et au peuple résistant. Le peuple yéménite mérite de décider librement de l’avenir de son pays, sans intervention militaire étrangère ni coercition. La guerre menée par l’Arabie saoudite au Yémen est une attaque contre la souveraineté et l’autodétermination du pays.

La situation humanitaire

La guerre menée par l’Arabie saoudite au Yémen a tué des centaines de milliers de personnes et ravagé le pays. Les Nations unies ont déclaré que la guerre au Yémen était “la pire crise humanitaire au monde”. Cette guerre viole les conditions de la Convention de Genève en prenant délibérément pour cible des civils et des structures civiles, des écoles, des marchés, des hôpitaux, des routes, des réservoirs d’eau, des installations
sanitaires et des lieux de culte au Yémen, comme l’ont démontré Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Médecins Sans Frontières et les Nations Unies.

En 2023, 21,6 millions de personnes au Yémen auront besoin d’une forme ou d’une autre d’aide humanitaire, car 80 % de la population du pays a du mal à accéder à la nourriture, à l’eau potable et à des services de santé adéquats. De multiples situations d’urgence ont frappé le pays : conflit violent, blocus économique imposé par la coalition dirigée par l’Arabie saoudite, effondrement de la monnaie, catastrophes naturelles et pandémie de COVID-19.

Le rôle du Canada

Le Canada a joué un rôle considérable dans la perpétuation de cette guerre désastreuse. L’une des premières actions du gouvernement Trudeau nouvellement élu en 2015 a été de réaffirmer la signature d’un accord de 15 milliards de dollars pour la vente de véhicules blindés légers (VBL) à l’Arabie saoudite. Il s’agissait du plus gros contrat d’exportation d’armes de l’histoire du Canada, qui incluait la formation à l’utilisation des véhicules. Le Canada a également formé des pilotes saoudiens en Alberta et en Saskatchewan.
Le Canada continue de vendre des armes et des équipements militaires à l’Arabie saoudite et aux Émirats arabes unis. Le groupe d’experts des Nations unies sur le Yémen a désigné à deux reprises le Canada, en 2020 et 2021, comme l’un des États qui alimentent la guerre en cours au Yémen. Le Canada fournit chaque année pour plus d’un milliard de dollars d’armes à l’Arabie saoudite et aux Émirats arabes unis.

Le soutien militaire des États-Unis à l’Arabie saoudite est constant depuis le début de la guerre, même face à un rapport de l’ONU de 2019 révélant que l’Arabie saoudite commettait des crimes de guerre et que ses soutiens occidentaux étaient complices. Au Canada, de nombreux politiciens souhaitent que les profits de guerre provenant des ventes d’armes continuent d’affluer. Ces profiteurs de guerre et nos médias complaisants
encouragent la guerre par procuration en Ukraine et restent muets face à la guerre au Yémen qui s’éternise.

Fait alarmant, une enquête de The Breach montre que cette complicité s’étend jusqu’au Premier ministre Justin Trudeau. Le gouvernement canadien est en train d’acheter deux avions, pour un montant de 133 millions de dollars, afin de constituer une flotte utilisée par le Premier ministre. Le vendeur est une société contrôlée par le célèbre prince héritier saoudien et Premier ministre Mohammed bin Salman.

Il est ignoble que le Canada profite de la vente de milliards d’euros d’armes à l’Arabie saoudite et aux Émirats arabes unis. Owen Schalk, qui écrit dans Canadian Dimension, résume la situation : L’implication du Canada dans la guerre au Yémen peut s’expliquer en deux mots : l’argent du sang. C’est aussi simple que cela, et il n’y a aucune excuse à la facilitation constante de ces transactions d’armes par le gouvernement fédéral, quelles que soient les justifications pathétiques qu’il invente. Ce n’est pas en insistant sur l’importance des emplois manufacturiers canadiens que l’on fera disparaître la famine qui sévit dans tout le pays. On n’éliminera pas la popularité nationale des Houthis en appliquant aveuglément le qualificatif “soutenu par l’Iran” à toute discussion sur leur résistance. Et le Yémen ne peut pas attendre que le Parti libéral acquière
une conscience.

Nos revendications

Nous enjoignons le gouvernement libéral de Trudeau à prendre les mesures suivantes pour mettre un terme définitif à la complicité du Canada dans cette guerre :
• Annuler les ventes d’armes canadiennes (véhicules blindés légers et autres armes) à l’Arabie saoudite et aux Émirats arabes unis.
• Demander à la coalition dirigée par l’Arabie saoudite de mettre fin à son offensive militaire illégale.
• Demander à la coalition dirigée par l’Arabie saoudite de lever complètement le blocus terrestre, maritime et aérien du Yémen.
• Ouvrir inconditionnellement la porte à tous les réfugiés yéménites dans les mêmes conditions que pour les réfugiés ukrainiens.
• Augmenter l’aide humanitaire au Yémen pour atteindre un montant significatif compte tenu de l’ampleur de la misère et de la destruction subies par les Yéménites au cours de cette guerre qui dure depuis huit ans. Lorsque le gouvernement canadien aura annulé la vente des VBL pour un montant de 15 milliards de dollars, il devra faire don du montant remboursé (après pénalités) pour l’aide humanitaire au Yémen.

Thank you to everyone who joined a solidarity action!

Read a report back on cross-country actions here.

Webinar on Monday March 27
The Forgotten War: Yemen, Saudi Arabia, and the Canadian arms trade

Send an email to your MP now

Use this online tool to send a letter to your MP calling on the Canadian government to stop sending weapons to Saudi Arabia and stop arming the horrific war in Yemen.

Shareable graphics

Don’t forget to use the hashtags #CanadaStopArmingSaudi and #YemenCantWait

Handouts available to download as PDF files:

English: Full page, half-page


French: Full page, half-page

Check out photos, videos, and more from 2022 actions HERE.

Categories
News

No to War, No to NATO

Register HERE.

For the last year, the war in Ukraine has been reflected daily in mainstream news, but remains an issue clouded by confusion. While events of the last year are front page news, there is little talk about the many years of NATO provocations, aggression and military buildup against Russia. More and more each day, NATO countries including Canada, the US, and England are fueling the war, funneling even more weapons into Ukraine. Join the Canada-Wide Peace and Justice Network for a webinar featuring speakers from Canada, the US, and Ukraine. Register HERE.

Join the conversation with:

Glenn Michalchuk: President of the Association of United Ukrainian Canadians and Chair of Peace Alliance Winnipeg.

Margaret Kimberly: Executive Editor of Black Agenda Report and author of the book Prejudential: Black America and the Presidents. In addition to being a Coordinating Committee member of Black Alliance for Peace,  she is an Administrative Committee member of the United National Antiwar Coalition, and the Board of Directors of the U.S. Peace Memorial Foundation. She is also a board member of Consortium News and the editorial board of the International Manifesto Group.

Kevin MacKay: Kevin is a professor at Mohawk College in Hamilton. He researches, writes, and teaches on the subjects of civilization collapse, political transformation, and global systemic risk. In 2017 he published Radical Transformation: Oligarchy, Collapse, and the Crisis of Civilization with Between the Lines Books. He is currently working on a book entitled A New Ecological Politics, with Oregon State University Press. Kevin also serves as Vice President of the Mohawk faculty union, OPSEU Local 240.

Co-moderated by Janine Solanki and Brendan StoneJanine is a Vancouver-based activist and organizer with Mobilization Against War & Occupation (MAWO), a member group of the Canada-Wide Peace & Justice Network. Brendan is the co-chair of the Hamilton Coalition to Stop the War, and the co-host of the Unusual Sources radio program. As digital manager for the Taylor Report radio program, Brendan has been distributing interviews warning about the danger of NATO’s role in Ukraine since 2014, and has written on the subject. Brendan is involved with the series of anti-war events happening in February and March, and you can find out more at hcsw.ca

Register HERE.

Categories
News

Stop the War, Stop NATO International Weekend of Action – February 23-26, 2023

The Canada-Wide Peace and Justice Network organized a weekend of action to “Stop the War, Stop NATO” from February 23-26, 2023 in solidarity with other pro-peace, anti-war actions occurring around the world at the same time. Actions took place in Montreal, Ottawa, Hamilton, Waterloo, Winnipeg, Regina, Calgary, Vancouver and Victoria.

Statement on the Stop the War, Stop NATO Weekend of Action February 23 – 26, 2023

Peace Now!

The Canada-Wide Peace and Justice Network (CWPJN) urges people across Canada to join us in calling for an end to the war in Ukraine. This conflict has caused immense suffering for the Ukrainian people and their civilian infrastructure, going back to 2014 when the conflict began in Ukraine’s Donbas region. We condemn the Trudeau government for flatly refusing to talk to its Russian counterpart and for continuously refuelling the rapidly escalating conflict in Ukraine, which has the potential to expand into a wider European war or even a nuclear confrontation. The CWPJN calls for immediate negotiations with all parties for a political solution to the conflict and a return to peace and neutrality in Ukraine. On the weekend of Feb 23th to 26th, our members will be holding actions across Canada, uniting with other pro-peace and anti-war actions occurring around the world at the same time.

Stop the War, Stop NATO!

For years, NATO has been provoking conflict with Russia. NATO’s expansion to Russia’s borders, its training and arming of Ukrainian military, and support for Ukraine’s war against its eastern Donbas region since 2014 have been the principal causes for the hostilities and the devastating war in Ukraine. The CWPJN is opposed to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) because it is an aggressive, US-led, military alliance of 30 Euro-Atlantic countries that has launched deadly and destructive military interventions in the former Yugoslavia, Afghanistan and Libya. These NATO wars have caused profound misery and a massive refugee crisis.

We are opposed to NATO’s demand that allies increase military spending to meet the 2% GDP target. In 2021, NATO members spent $1.1 trillion on military spending, accounting for 60% of global military spending. Since 2014, Canadian military spending has increased by 70%. In 2021, Canada spent $33 billion on the military, which is 15 times more than on environment and climate change. In 2022, Defence Minister Anita Anand announced military spending will increase by another 70% over the next 5 years. NATO’s demand that members buy new inter-operable weapons is leading to a costly arms race. Carbon-intensive weapons systems like fighter jets, tanks, and warships are exacerbating the climate crisis. In Canada, this includes the recently announced purchase of 16 F-35 fighter jets, part of the planned 88 F-35 fighter jets deal which will cost taxpayers at least $77 billion over the lifecycle of the jets. The government of Canada is also planning to purchase warships at a sticker price of $84 billion and $5 billion for armed drones. 

This explosion in military spending will prevent Canada from investing adequately in public healthcare, education, housing, jobs and climate solutions. NATO’s reliance on a dangerous nuclear deterrence and first strike policy puts us all at risk. The deadly, expensive and environmentally harmful F-35 fighter jets purchased by Canada are designed for offensive strike first attacks and to carry B61-12 tactical nuclear weapons. Is this purchase the reason why Canada has refused to sign the United Nations Treaty to Prohibit Nuclear Weapons (TPNW)? The TPNW requires that signatories “never under any circumstances… develop, test, produce, manufacture, otherwise acquire, possess or stockpile nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices.” The CWPJN demands that the government of Canada sign the TPNW now!

Canada out of NATO!

NATO is not a defensive alliance. It undermines global peace and human security and exacerbates the climate crisis. Because of Canada’s NATO membership, we are dragged into every war of the US empire. It’s time to for Canada to withdraw from NATO and develop a non-nuclear, independent, foreign policy, free from arms exports to fuel wars and occupations, and without massive expenditures on weapons for future wars. With humanity facing global environmental and health crises, we need international cooperation, nonviolence and common security for all countries. Peace in Ukraine, and peace with Russia and China begins with negotiations, diplomacy, and an end to NATO.

Join us in sending a message to the Trudeau government from February 23 to 26

Take Action In Person

Actions will be added to this directory as details are finalized. Please email maya@worldbeyondwar.org if you have information you’d like to be added.

Network Press Release (available for use by local actions)

Take Action Online

Letter Writing

Petitions

Webinars

 

Categories
News

January 13 – 22: Stop U.S./Canada/NATO Wars and Occupations!

Across Canada, many Canada-Wide Peace and Justice Network members action to reject Canada’s imperialist wars, occupations, sanctions and military interventions.

Interview with Ken Stone (Hamilton Coalition to Stop the War) on Canada-wide protests.

Peace Alliance Winnipeg statement calling for a ceasefire in Ukraine and video of local action

ARCHIVE: Canada-Wide Peace and Justice Network Statement

Across Canada, the U.S. and around the world, peace activists are taking action January 13 – 22 to demand an end to imperialist wars, occupations, sanctions and military interventions. This call to action was initiated by the United National Antiwar Coalition (UNAC) in the U.S., marking Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day and remembering his words from April 4, 1967 which still ring true today, “The greatest purveyor of violence in the world: My own Government, I can not be Silent.” This week of action is supported by the Canada-Wide Peace and Justice Network, a network of 45 peace groups across Canada.

No New Fighter Jets!

An urgent demand for antiwar activists in Canada is No New Fighter Jets! On January 9, 2023 Canada’s Defense Minister Anita Anand announced that Canada will buy 88 F-35 fighter jets costing Canadian taxpayers $19 billion, with $7 billion approved for the first 16. Even these exorbitant prices are not the full story – the lifecycle cost of the 88 fighter jets is estimated to be at least $76.8 billion over 30 years, according to the No Fighter Jets coalition 2020 report, From Acquisition to Disposal: Uncovering the true cost of 88 new fighter jets. This fighter jets purchase is part of a massively expanding military budget. Military spending increased by 70% since 2014, and in 2022 Minister Anand announced that military spending will increase again by 70% in the next five years. Just in 2021, the government of Canada spent $33 billion on the military. This is money that is desperately needed for affordable healthcare, education, jobs and climate solutions. Furthermore, these fighter jets are fossil fuel intensive, using 1,340 gallons of fuel per hour, more than twice the average of what a standard car uses in one year!

This deadly, expensive and environmentally harmful fighter jet is designed for offensive strike first attacks and to carry B61-12 tactical nuclear weapons. This highlights the fact that the government of Canada has refused to sign the United Nations Treaty to Prohibit Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) despite demands from antiwar and peace activists. The TPNW requires that signatories “never under any circumstances… develop, test, produce, manufacture, otherwise acquire, possess or stockpile nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices.”

The fighter jets purchase is being protested across Canada, during the January 13-22 week of action and also recently with the No Fighter Jets Coalition weekend of action from January 6-8 which had 13 actions across Canada demanding “No New Fighter Jets” and “Drop the F35 Deal!” The Canada-Wide Peace and Justice Network also encourages people in Canada to sign the parliamentary petition against the fighter jets purchase at https://petitions.ourcommons.ca/en/Petition/Details?Petition=e-4217

Stop arming Saudi Arabia!

Besides buying weapons of war, Canada is also producing and selling them. Today, the United Nations deems Yemen the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, after almost eight years of Saudi-led, U.S. backed and Canadian-armed war. This war has killed over a quarter of a million people, and has displaced an additional four million people. The Saudi-led coalition has bombed Yemeni markets, hospitals, and civilians, and yet Canada has exported over $8 billion in arms to Saudi Arabia since 2015, the year the Saudi-led military intervention in Yemen began. The Trudeau Government continues to profit from its controversial $15 billion arms deal for armoured vehicles–killing machines which have been used against people in Yemen and in Saudi Arabia.

The Canada-Wide Peace and Justice Network calls for an end to the Saudi-led war on Yemen and demands that Canada Stop Arming Saudi Arabia!

Canada, US and UN Hands off Haiti!

Canada’s military exports have also reached Haiti. In October 2022 Canadian and U.S. warplanes delivered armoured vehicles and weapons to Haiti, in the midst of widespread protests for access to food, fuel, and basic necessities and against the country’s imperialist backed government. More recently on January 11, 2023 Canada made a second delivery of armoured vehicles to Haiti’s police. While the government of Canada is arming the illegitimate and unelected Prime Minister of Haiti, Ariel Henry, they are also keeping the option to occupy Haiti on the table. In October 2022 the U.S. drafted a United Nations Security Council resolution for the “deployment of a rapid action force to Haiti immediately”. This is a very dangerous move by Canada, the U.S., and their allies and will have devastating results for the people of Haiti.

The Canada-Wide Peace and Justice Network stands against Canada sending weapons to Haiti and demands No New Occupation of Haiti!

Canada Out of NATO!

The Canada-Wide Peace and Justice Network opposes the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), a U.S.- led military alliance of 30 countries, which undermines global peace and human security and is responsible for the deadly and destructive interventions in the former Yugoslavia, Afghanistan and Libya. For years, NATO has been provoking conflict with Russia. NATO’s expansion to Russia’s border and its training and arming of Ukrainian security forces have contributed to growing tensions and war in the region. NATO’s demand that allies buy new interoperable weapons is leading to a costly arms race. Carbon-intensive weapons systems like fighter jets, tanks, drones, and warships are exacerbating the climate crisis. Canada is complicit in U.S. wars and is pursuing an imperialist agenda. 

The Canada-Wide Peace and Justice Network demands that Canada adopt an independent foreign policy free of all military alliances, including NATO.

No to imperialist wars

For over 30 years, we have witnessed the acceleration of brutal imperial wars by the U.S. and their allies, including Canada, against the former Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria, Haiti, and other countries. These wars have killed millions, turned tens of millions into refugees, laid waste to infrastructure, impoverished citizens through sanctions, and overthrown governments. With the full support of the governments of the U.S. and Canada, the Zionist Israeli regime has continued to occupy Palestine, brutally kill and imprison Palestinian people, including children and journalists, demolish Palestinian homes and routinely bomb Gaza. When fleeing homelands that have become war zones, refugees are subjected to harrowing and dangerous journeys and met with racism and discrimination in the very countries responsible for the destruction of the refugees’ original homes.

The Canada-Wide Peace and Justice Network says NO to imperialist wars, occupations, economic sanctions, and military interventions, and YES to self-determination!

Take Action!

The Canada-Wide Peace and Justice Network supports the United National Antiwar Coalition’s week of action, and encourages peace loving people across Canada to join demonstrations and activities for the Week of Action January 13 – 22.

To view actions in the U.S. and around the world visit https://unac.notowar.net/martin-luther-king-jr-week-of-actions/

Together, let’s end imperialist wars and build a loving and peaceful world!

Categories
News Uncategorized

Human Rights, Canadian Imperialism and Haiti’s Fight for Self-Determination

Human Rights, Canadian Imperialism and Haiti’s Fight for Self-Determination

View the recording here

Haitians are currently protesting on a massive scale and Canada is leading the international push for foreign military intervention. Why is Canada interested in military intervention? How are human rights concerns being leveraged to justify military expansion? How did we get here in the first place? This International Human Rights Day, join World BEYOND War Canada and the Canada-Wide Peace and Justice Network on December 10th at 5pm ET to hear from critical thinkers on the issues at hand.

Featuring:

>> Jean Saint-Vil – author and member of Solidarity Quebec Haiti. He is the co-founder of AKASAN (Ayisyen ki ap soutni Ayisyen nètalkole) and Jaku Konbit. Jean is an artist-activist immersed in Global Peace and Social Justice movements. (Jafrikayiti.com)

>> Dimitri Lascaris – lawyer, human rights activist and former candidate for the leadership of the Green Party of Canada. He is based in Montréal. Follow Dimitri on Twitter @dimitrilascaris

+ Poetry by Laura Doyle Péan – Laura Doyle Péan (they/them) is a queer Haitian-Quebecois poet and multidisciplinary artist committed to social justice and fascinated by the relationship between art and movement work. Born in Nionwentsïo (Quebec city), where they first got involved in intersectional feminist, LGBTQIA2S+, migrant justice and racial justice organizing, they moved to Tiohtià:ke/Mooniyang (Montreal) in 2019, to attend university, and joined the fossil fuel divestment movement. They are also one of the founding members of Collective 1629, a Black-led Quebec-city-based collective fighting against racial profiling and other forms of anti-Black state violence in Nionwentsïo.

+ Special Intervention by Barbara Waldern – connecting human rights struggles in Haiti, the Philippines and beyond. Barbara represents Just Peace Committee, a member group of Canada-Wide Peace & Justice Network and the International League of Peoples’ Struggle (ILPS)

Moderated by Janine Solanki – Vancouver-based activist and organizer with Mobilization Against War & Occupation (MAWO) a member group of Canada-Wide Peace & Justice Network

View the recording here

Categories
News

De-escalate and Repatriate: Statement regarding the death of Canadian mercenary Joseph Hildebrand in Ukraine

The recent death of a Canadian mercenary in Ukraine has prompted national news coverage and a defiant statement of condolences from Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe.

Joseph Hildebrand, who was killed near Bakhmut, Ukraine, was a farmer and a Canadian soldier who served two tours of duty during Canada’s thirteen-year role in the illegal US-led war and occupation of Afghanistan, which cost Canadian taxpayers at least $18 billion and resulted in 153 soldiers and Canadian officials losing their lives. During this year’s Remembrance Day observance in Regina, Premier Scott Moe called Joseph Hildebrand “a true Saskatchewan hero” and expressed condolences to his widow and daughter. (We also express our condolences.) Then, true to the militaristic culture of our times, Moe went on to call for the defeat of the Russian Federation.

The news that Canadians are dying in combat in Ukraine should come as no surprise. Earlier this year, a millionaire entrepreneur named Chris Ecklund in Hamilton, Ontario, created an online recruitment portal to enlist Canadians in the International Legion of Defence of Ukraine. This site apparently enabled close to 500 Canadians to risk their lives in a foreign land, for a foreign government about which they know little. Ecklund has not been prosecuted nor has his site been shut down. In addition, at least two ministers of the Trudeau government have likewise encouraged Canadians to “fight for Ukraine” and the government itself has reportedly dispatched Canadian special forces to fight on the ground.

However, few are speaking to the fact that Joseph Hildebrand and other Canadian “volunteers” are fighting illegally in Ukraine as mercenary combatants. Canada’s Foreign Enlistment Act makes it illegal for anyone to try to recruit Canadians to fight in foreign wars. The “volunteers” are also in violation of United Nations’ convention #44/34 banning the use of mercenaries. These Canadians run the risk of being arrested and charged by the Russian authorities under the UN convention. The punishment in Russia for such behaviour includes the death penalty.

There is an extensive history of post-cold war conflict in Ukraine, and of Canada’s involvement in it. The Canadian government spent one billion dollars from 1991 to 2014 to help the U.S. orchestrate both the Orange Revolution of 2004 and the Maidan Coup of 2014, which overthrew the democratically-elected government of President Yanukovych and replaced it with a Nazi-riddled junta that precipitated a war with the mainly Russian-speaking population of the Donbas. From 2014 to 2022, successive Canadian federal governments supported the coup government with hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars, sent it stockpiles of weapons, and trained some 33,000 Ukrainian soldiers under Operation Unifier, with full knowledge that some were members of Ukraine’s neo-Nazi Azov Battalion, and recognizing that the Ukrainian government deliberately undermined the Minsk Agreements which were negotiated to end the conflict. The Harper and Trudeau governments sought to turn Ukraine into a de facto NATO state with a de facto NATO army, as part of NATO’s expansion towards the frontiers of Russia, despite post-cold war pledges to then-Soviet President Gorbachev that NATO wouldn’t expand “one inch eastward” of a reunited Germany. About 14,000 people were killed in the conflict in the Donbas prior to Feb 24, 2022, and over one million were forced to flee to Russia as refugees.

The Canada-Wide Peace and Justice Network is aghast that our government, as a NATO member, orchestrated the conditions that led to the current war in Ukraine and the death of Joseph Hildebrand, and that incited about 500 Canadian mercenaries to travel to fight there illegally. One purpose in issuing the statement, then, is to avoid any further Canadian casualties.

Stop digging!

We demand that the Trudeau government cease and desist from fueling this war with more arms, huge cash infusions (including $500 million announced on Nov. 14th), and mercenaries. The Canadian government has diplomats that should serve as more than extras for cocktail parties—please get them to bring the warring parties to the table to negotiate a solution.

The war in Ukraine could easily expand overnight into a wider European war and even into a global nuclear confrontation: Witness the war fever created over a single missile that landed in Poland, causing two casualties, on November 15th—in what turned out to be a “friendly fire” incident.

It’s urgent that Canada step up, seek to de-escalate the current conflict and repatriate all the Canadian troops and mercenaries currently in Ukraine. Instead of fighting battles for the U.S. empire, Canada should be fighting the battles that really matter, the ones that save human lives rather than extinguishing them. We ask Justin Trudeau and all our MPs to get to work fighting climate change, the pandemic, species extinctions, pollution, homelessness, and poverty here in Canada. The death of Joseph Hillebrand is one more reason for Canada to develop an independent foreign policy and withdraw from NATO, the military alliance that drew Canada into the conflict in Ukraine.

Categories
News

Taking action to get Canada to #StopArmingSaudi

On March 1st, the Canada-Wide Peace and Justice Network publicly launched a letter signed by 68 organizations, representing one million people, calling on the Canadian government and Canadian companies to stop sending weapons to Saudi Arabia and stop arming the horrific war in Yemen. For the first time, it publicly named 28 companies in Canada implicated in this arms trade.

Since the letter was launched on March 1st it’s been hand-delivered to government officials and MPs across the country, and protests and banner drops have been held at the locations of the companies listed who are arming Saudi Arabia and profiting off of the war in Yemen.

Categories
News

End Canada’s Support of the War on Yemen and Ongoing Weapons Exports to Saudi Arabia

The Canada-Wide Peace and Justice Network wrote the following letter condemning the Canadian government and Canadian companies’ ongoing profiteering off of arming Saudi Arabia and sending weapons to the worst humanitarian situation on the planet in Yemen.

We’re pleased to announce that 68 organizations across Canada, representing nearly one million people, have signed on to demand that Canada #StopArmingSaudi and to highlight 28 companies in Canada complicit in this arms deal.

On March 1st, the letter was delivered to Prime Minister Trudeau’s office. Throughout the week it will be delivered to the companies and government officials named across Canada.

The full letter is available for download here.

Act now:

Help spread the word on social media! Sample messaging here and shareable graphics here.

Residents of Canada are invited to sign these two parliamentary petitions: