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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

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#FundPeaceNotWar Semaine d’Action Canadienne

#FundPeaceNotWar Semaine d’Action Canadienne

Au Canada, aux États-Unis et dans le monde entier, les militants pour la paix seront dans la rue du 15 au 23 octobre pour exiger la fin des guerres impérialistes, des occupations, des sanctions et des interventions militaires. Cet appel à l’action a été lancé par la United National Antiwar Coalition (UNAC) aux États-Unis et a été repris par le Réseau canadien pour la paix et la justice, une coalition de 45 groupes qui luttent pour la paix au Canada.

Non aux guerres impérialistes

Depuis plus de 30 ans, nous avons assisté à l’accélération des guerres impériales brutales menées par les États-Unis et leurs alliés, dont le Canada, contre l’ex-Yougoslavie, l’Afghanistan, l’Irak, la Libye, la Syrie, Haïti et d’autres pays. Ces guerres ont tué des millions de personnes, transformé des dizaines de millions de personnes en réfugiés, détruit des infrastructures, appauvri les citoyens par des sanctions et renversé des gouvernements. Avec le soutien total des gouvernements des États-Unis et du Canada, le régime sioniste israélien a continué à occuper la Palestine, à tuer et à emprisonner brutalement des Palestiniens, y compris des enfants et des journalistes, à démolir des maisons palestiniennes et à bombarder régulièrement Gaza.

Lorsqu’ils fuient leurs pays qui sont devenus des zones de guerre, les réfugiés sont soumis à des voyages pénibles et dangereux et sont confrontés au racisme et à la discrimination dans les pays mêmes qui sont responsables de la destruction de leur pays d’origine.

Du 15 au 23 octobre, les militants diront NON aux guerres impérialistes, aux occupations, aux sanctions économiques et aux interventions militaires, et OUI à l’autodétermination !

Arrêtez d’armer l’Arabie Saoudite

Aujourd’hui, les Nations unies considèrent le Yémen comme la pire crise humanitaire au monde, après sept ans de guerre menée par l’Arabie saoudite, soutenue par les États-Unis et armée par le Canada. Cette guerre a tué plus d’un quart de million de personnes et en a déplacé quatre autres millions. La coalition dirigée par l’Arabie saoudite a bombardé les marchés, les hôpitaux et les civils, et pourtant le Canada a exporté plus de 8 milliards de dollars d’armes à l’Arabie saoudite depuis 2015, année du début de l’intervention militaire dirigée par l’Arabie saoudite au Yémen. Le gouvernement de Trudeau continue de profiter de son contrat d’armement controversé de 15 milliards de dollars pour des véhicules blindés – des machines à tuer qui ont été utilisées contre des civils au Yémen et en Arabie saoudite.

Du 15 au 23 octobre, les militants demanderont la fin de la guerre menée par l’Arabie saoudite au Yémen et exigeront que le Canada cesse d’armer l’Arabie saoudite !

Financer les besoins humains, pas la destruction

Alors que le Canada acquiert une mauvaise réputation en tant que vendeur d’armes aux gouvernements belliqueux les plus méprisables du monde, le gouvernement de Trudeau renforce également son propre arsenal. Depuis 2014, les dépenses militaires canadiennes ont augmenté de 70 %. L’année dernière, le gouvernement canadien a dépensé 33 milliards de dollars pour l’armée, soit 15 fois plus que ce qu’il a dépensé pour l’environnement et le changement climatique. Le ministre de la Défense, M. Anand, a annoncé que les dépenses militaires augmenteront encore de 70 % au cours des cinq prochaines années pour des articles couteux comme les avions de chasse F-35 (cout à vie : 77 milliards de dollars), les navires de guerre (cout à vie : 350 milliards de dollars) et les drones armés (cout à vie : 5 milliards de dollars).

Du 15 au 23 octobre, les militants exigeront NON aux nouveaux avions de chasse, aux navires de guerre et aux drones ! Nous avons besoin de milliards pour le logement, les soins de santé, l’emploi et le climat, PAS pour les profiteurs de guerre !

Le Canada hors de l’OTAN

Le Réseau canadien pour la paix et la justice s’oppose à l’Organisation du traité de l’Atlantique Nord (OTAN), une alliance militaire de 30 pays dirigée par les États-Unis, qui amoindrit la paix mondiale et la sécurité humaine et qui est responsable des interventions meurtrières et destructrices en ex-Yougoslavie, en Afghanistan et en Libye. Depuis des années, l’OTAN provoque un conflit avec la Russie. L’extension de l’OTAN jusqu’à la frontière russe, ainsi que la formation et l’armement des forces de sécurité ukrainiennes, ont contribué à accroitre les tensions dans la région. L’exigence de l’OTAN pour que les alliés achètent de nouvelles armes interopérables conduit à une course aux armements couteuse. Les systèmes d’armes à forte intensité en carbone, comme les avions de chasse, les chars d’assaut, les drones et les navires de guerre, exacerbent la crise climatique. Le Canada est complice des guerres menées par les États-Unis et poursuit un programme impérialiste.

Du 15 au 23 octobre, les militants exigeront que le Canada adopte une politique étrangère indépendante, libre de toute alliance militaire, y compris l’OTAN.

Arrêtez de provoquer la Chine

Les exercices de guerre provocateurs de l’OTAN et son extension à la région Asie-Pacifique font monter les tensions avec la Chine et déstabilisent la région. Comme si cela ne suffisait pas, les gouvernements des États-Unis et du Canada ne font qu’envenimer les relations diplomatiques avec la Chine. Par exemple, Nancy Pelosi, la présidente de la Chambre des représentants des États-Unis, s’est récemment rendue à Taïwan, bientôt suivie par une délégation canadienne dirigée par la députée Judy Sgro. Ces gestes belligérants contredisent la position respectueuse et neutre adoptée par les États-Unis et le Canada à l’égard de la position chinoise selon laquelle Taïwan fait partie intégrante de la Chine.

Du 15 au 23 octobre, les militants exigeront que Washington et Ottawa cessent de provoquer une guerre avec la Russie et la Chine, et demanderont que la députée Judy Sgro annule son voyage prévu à Taïwan !

Agissez !

Le Réseau canadien pour la paix et la justice encourage les gens épris de paix à travers le Canada à se joindre aux manifestations et activités organisées dans tout le pays à l’occasion de la semaine d’action, du 15 au 23 octobre, ou à organiser vos propres actions.

Pour voir les actions menées aux États-Unis et dans le monde entier, consultez le site www.unacpeace.org.

Ensemble, mettons fin aux guerres impérialistes et construisons un monde d’amour et paix !

 

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#FundPeaceNotWar Week of Action

#FundPeaceNotWar Canada Week of Action

Cliquez ici pour lire la déclaration en français

Across Canada, the U.S. and around the world, peace activists will be on the streets from October 15th to 23rd, demanding 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. and has been taken up by the Canada-Wide Peace and Justice Network, a coalition of 45 peace groups across Canada.

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.

From October 15th-23rd, activists will be saying NO to imperialist wars, occupations, economic sanctions, and military interventions, and YES to self-determination!

Stop arming Saudi Arabia.

Today, the United Nations deems Yemen the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, after seven 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.

From October 15 to 23rd, activists will be calling for an end to the Saudi-led war on Yemen and demanding that Canada Stop Arming Saudi Arabia!

Fund human needs, not destruction

While Canada is gaining ill-repute as an arms dealer to the world’s most despicable war-mongering governments, the Trudeau Government is also bolstering its own arsenal. Since 2014, Canadian military spending has increased by 70%. Last year, the Canadian government spent $33 billion on the military, which is 15 times more than it spent on environment and climate change. Defence Minister Anand announced military spending will increase by another 70% over the next five years on big-ticket items such as F-35 fighter jets, (lifetime cost: $77 billion), warships (lifetime cost: $350 billion), and armed drones (lifetime cost: $5 billion).

From October 15 to 23rd, activists will be demanding NO new fighter jets, warships, or drones! We need billions for housing, health care, jobs and climate, NOT for war profiteering!

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 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. 

From October 15 to 23rd, activists will be demanding that Canada adopt an independent foreign policy free of all military alliances, including NATO.

Stop Provoking China

NATO’s provocative war exercises and extension into the Asia-Pacific region are raising tensions with China and destabilizing the region. As if that weren’t bad enough, the governments of the U.S. and Canada are further inflaming diplomatic relations with China. For example, Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, recently visited Taiwan, soon to be followed by a Canadian delegation led by MP Judy Sgro. These belligerent moves contradict the U.S. and Canada’s previous respectful and neutral stance regarding the Chinese position that Taiwan is an integral part of China.

Read & share the Network’s statement about MP Judy Sgro’s visit to Taiwan.

From October 15 to 23rd, activists will be demanding that Washington and Ottawa stop provoking war with Russia and China, and asking that MP Judy Sgro cancel her planned trip to Taiwan!

Canada, US and UN Hands off Haiti!

Canadian and U.S. warplanes have landed in Haiti in the midst of widespread protests for access to food, fuel, and basic necessities and against the country’s imperialist-backed government. Imperialists are planning to occupy Haiti under the auspice of the United Nations. The U.S. has 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. As anti-war and peace activists in Canada, we must strongly stand against military intervention in Haiti. 

As we take the streets across the country this week for our #FundPeaceNotWar actions, we must stand up against military intervention in Haiti and Canada’s complicity against the people of Haiti. Canada, US and UN out of Haiti! No to New Occupation of Haiti!

Take action!

The Canada-Wide Peace and Justice Network encourages peace-loving people across Canada to join demonstrations and activities across Canada for the Week of Action from October 15-23 or to organize your own actions.

To view actions in the U.S. and around the world visit www.unacpeace.org.

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

Take Action In Person

Thank you to everyone who came out to an action on from October 15-23 in 9 cities across Canada to demand that Canada #FundPeaceNotWar.  From October 15th to 23rd,  at least 11 actions took place in 9 cities including Toronto, Calgary, Vancouver, Waterloo, Ottawa, Hamilton, South Georgian Bay, Winnipeg, and Montreal. More photos, videos, and news coverage HERE.

Online Actions to Take Right Now

Letter Writing

Petitions

  • Sign The Parliamentary Petition: Call on Canada to stop fueling the 7-year-long war in Yemen. When submitted, this petition will obligate the Trudeau Government to submit an official response.

Media

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Cancel MP Judy Sgro’s delegation to Taiwan

The Canada-Wide Peace and Justice Network adamantly opposes the visit of a delegation of Canadian MP’s to Taiwan proposed for October 2022. This delegation, to be led by the Minister for Foreign Trade, Judy Sgro, will inevitably worsen Canadian relations with China, our second largest trading partner, and raise tensions in the Asia-Pacific region, which could easily lead to war.

Sgro’s proposed visit to Taiwan follows closely on the heels of that of the Speaker of the US House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi. The Chinese government reacted angrily to Pelosi’s visit by staging military exercises encircling Taiwan and by ending ongoing discussions with the US for cooperation on several subjects, including climate change. The Chinese position on Taiwan is that it is an integral part of China, an understanding called the One China Policy, which the USA, the UN, Canada, and the vast majority of the countries of the world signed onto 50 years ago. Indeed, only 13 countries of the world today recognize Taiwan as an independent state.

Pelosi’s visit was not a personal jaunt. Clearly, it received the green light from President Biden and other senior administration figures. It followed Barack Obama’s “Pivot to Asia” in 2012 during which the USA decided to concentrate its military forces and political attention on containing the rising global influence of the Peoples Republic of China, which the Obama Administration regarded as a rival and potential threat. Pelosi’s visit and that of Sgro were both designed to isolate and weaken China and sow the kind of instability that results in increased US and Canadian arms sale abroad.

Now, with Sgro’s proposed delegation to Taiwan, it appears that the Trudeau government of Canada, like the vassal state it showed itself to be by arresting Meng Wanzhou, CFO of Huawei Technologies, at the behest of Donald Trump in 2018, is also doing its own “pivot to Asia”, likewise falsely designating China as a bully and threat to Taiwan, instead of adhering to its own 50-year-old acceptance of the One China Policy. The opposition political parties in the House of Commons are also on the warpath against China, having voted unanimously to accuse the People’s Republic of a genocide of Uyghurs in its Xinjiang province.  (The Canadian Senate, however, defeated the proposition.) All in all, however, Canada is sacrificing 50 years of prosperity with China to jump on the US war wagon.

Canadians need to understand that the Chinese people are still smarting from the Chinese “century of humiliation” which lasted from 1840 to 1949, during which foreign colonial powers divided up the territory of China; occupied many parts of it, including Hong Kong and Taiwan; and forced humiliating “concessions” on the Chinese people, reducing most of them to grinding poverty. Only since the formation of the Peoples Republic has the Chinese state been able gradually to guarantee the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country, by reassuming control of important parts of the country such as Hong Kong. Moreover, the Chinese government achieved the remarkable feat of raising 800 million people out of poverty, a success unsurpassed in history.

Despite assurances by Sgro that she intends to be “diplomatic in (her) comments” while in Taiwan, she asserts that her trip is “necessary” to “protect other countries that have fought for their freedom and for their democracy.” She adds that she’s “proud that Canada is standing up to China.” And she thinks that “pushback is important.” To be fair to the Minister, she also hopes the trip will increase opportunities for Canadian businesses. Her delegation to Taiwan will likely get Trudeau’s blessing to proceed and be hosted by the Taiwanese government, whose Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Canada has already expressed its full support for the mission.

As Minister of International Trade, Sgro already has a record of supporting the pro-independence government of Taiwan, nurtured for years by the USA. Sgro is chair of the parliamentary committee, the Canada-Taiwan Friendship Group. In a tweet of January 11, 2020, Sgro congratulated President Tsai Ingwen, a strong proponent of Taiwanese independence, on her election win.

Taiwan has been part of China for hundreds of years. It was seized by the Imperial Japanese government in 1895 as a spoil of the First Sino-Japanese War. During WW2, while Japan was allied to Hitler’s Nazi government, Japan used “Formosa” as a launching pad for its attempted conquest of China and other Southeast Asian colonies of France, the Netherlands, and Britain. Following the Chinese civil war (1945-49), the pro-Western Kuomintang government of Chiang Kai Shek fled the mainland to Taiwan and established a military dictatorship that lasted forty years, all the while claiming to be the sovereign government of all China. There was not a peep about the lack of democracy in Taiwan from the US or Canada in that whole time. The very first direct election for the presidency of Taiwan took place only in 1996.

For his part, the Chinese Ambassador to Canada warned, “China will take resolute and forceful measures against any country that attempts to interfere with or infringe upon China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.”

For our part, the CWPJN calls on the Trudeau government to:

– cancel Sgro’s proposed delegation to Taiwan;
– stop prodding China with naval provocations and baseless accusations;
– end all of Canada’s unilateral (and therefore illegal) economic sanctions against the PRC;
– establish a Canada-China Parliamentary Friendship Group;
– cooperate with China on achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Cooperation with China is vital to making progress on the Paris Agreement. China is a global leader on renewable energy technologies and international development. On the eve of Climate Summit in Sharm El-Sheikh, Canada should not be antagonizing China but should be finding ways to collaborate on common environmental and social challenges.*

Sept 20, 2022

*China and renewable energy technologies: https://www.iea.org/commentaries/a-new-era-of-shared-clean-energy-leadership-begins-in-china

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International Day of Peace 2022

CEASEFIRES AND NEGOTIATIONS NOW!

DISARM NOW! BAN NUCLEAR WEAPONS!

On United Nations International Peace Day, 9.21.2022, the need for de-escalations, negotiations, disarmament and understanding could not be more urgent. Nuclear war is looming, especially as Russia may be motivated to retaliate against the US, Europe and Canada. Devastating military conflicts are dragging on and increasing in number while the arms trade and militarism are on the rise. We are faced with mass deaths, starvation and displacement and obliteration of biological and social ecologies. Economic sanctions are today being a great cause for deprivation and insecurity; we oppose such tools of war, too, just as we oppose war profiteering.

The Canada-Wide Peace and Justice Network, an association of numerous organizations from coast to coast in Canada working for peace, calls for all peace-loving and concerned people to stand up and speak up for genuine and lasting peace on September 21. It will take a united, worldwide effort to attain peaceful resolutions and set humanity on the path toward peaceful coexistence. Let us work toward saving life and the wise use of the planet. Peace will allow the people of the world to find solutions to problems such as economic instability, global warming, food insecurity, lack of housing and so on.

The military gobbles up huge quantities of natural resources, destroying life and cultures. It is highly polluting. The US military, the world’s largest consumer of crude oil, is estimated to have a carbon footprint bigger than other countries. Extraction and force often go hand in hand, violating land and human rights.

The Peace and Justice Network holds the Canadian government and many big corporations responsible for their part in aggression. We object to the subordination of Canadian foreign policy to US foreign policy. We call for Canada to get out of NATO and distance itself from US / NATO policy. We want Canada to work towards ending wars in and military projects such as the Ukraine, Yemen and Syria, and terminating military exercises such as RIMPAC and those by the Korean Peninsula. Canada should condemn Israel’s illegal and wanton occupation of Palestine. We also demand that Canada’s military budget be decreased so as to release more funds for much needed social protection and development. Furthermore, we insist that Canada sign the Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.

The Network is against the proposed purchase of 88 F-35 fighter jets, whose purchase will cost Canadians around $39 billion. We stand against the purchase of armed drones, as well. What’s more, we oppose the sale of light armoured vehicles or other supplies for Saudi Arabia that would be implemented for further attacks on Yemen or others. The Saudi Arabia-led coalition against Yemen has caused an extreme humanitarian disaster and must be stopped.

Join the demonstrations and other activities to support the campaigns for ceasefires, disarmament and negotiations. Demand that Canada get out of NATO and disentangle itself from US foreign affairs. Let us work to replace the war economy with a new human project for genuine and lasting peace in a caring world.

CWPJN #PeaceDay Events

Action Ideas & Resources

Whatever action you decide to take, remember to reflect your action on social media with the hashtags #InternationalDayofPeace, #PeaceDay, #PeaceDay2022, and/or #InternationalPeaceDay so activists and organizations across Canada can amplify each others actions!

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Stop the War, Stop NATO

Stop the Weapons, Stop the War, Stop NATO
Days of Action June 24-30, 2022

We urge people across Canada to join us to protest the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and demand an end to the war in Ukraine between June 24 to June 30. We will be holding “Stop the Weapons, Stop the War, Stop NATO” rallies across Canada to coincide with NATO’s Summit in Madrid, Spain.

We will be standing in solidarity with the European activists who are organizing a major demonstration against NATO outside the summit and dock workers who are blocking weapons shipments to Ukraine.

We are opposed to NATO because it is an aggressive, US-led, military alliance of 30 Euro-Atlantic countries that has launched deadly and destructive interventions in the former Yugoslavia, Afghanistan and Libya. These NATO wars have caused profound misery and a massive refugee crisis.

For years, NATO has been provoking conflict with Russia and China. NATO’s expansion to Russia’s border and its training and arming of Ukrainian security forces have instigated the devastating war in Ukraine. We call for an immediate ceasefire and negotiations with all parties for a democratic peace and neutrality in Ukraine.

We are opposed to NATO’s demand that allies increase military spending to meet the 2% GDP target. At $1.1 trillion, NATO accounts for 60% of global military spending. Since 2014, Canadian military spending has increased by 70%. Last year, Canada spent $33 billion on the military, which is 15 times more than on environment and climate change. Defence Minister Anand announced it will increase by another 70% over the next 5 years.

NATO’s demand that allies buy new interoperable weapons is leading to a costly arms race. Carbon-intensive weapons systems like fighter jets, tanks and warships are exacerbating the climate crisis.

This military spending prevents Canada from investing adequately in public health care, education, housing and climate action.

NATO’s reliance on a dangerous nuclear deterrence and first strike policy puts us all at risk and is the reason that Canada is refusing to join the United Nations’ Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.

NATO’s provocative war exercises and extension into the Asia Pacific are raising tensions with China and destabilizing the region. 

The NATO military alliance is undermining global peace and human security. It is time to for Canada to withdraw from NATO and develop an independent foreign policy. Canada must end arms exports and economic sanctions. Canada needs to show leadership for diplomacy and disarmament.

We need international cooperation, nonviolence and common security for all countries. It begins with ending the sanctions, peace in Ukraine and peace with Russia and China.

Stop the weapons. Stop the war. Stop NATO.

Join a Stop the War, Stop NATO Action Near You

Are we missing an event? Can we help you organize one near you? Get in touch with us at canadapeaceandjustice@gmail.com

Send a letter to Prime Minister Trudeau and Ministers Joly and Anand

Write to Prime Minister Trudeau, Foreign Affairs Minister Joly, and Defense Minister Anand to express your opposition to Canada’s actions that are serving to prolong the tragic war in Ukraine and to Canada’s membership in NATO.

The NATO military alliance is undermining global peace and human security. It is time to for Canada to withdraw from NATO and develop an independent foreign policy while showing leadership for diplomacy and disarmament.

Once you click START WRITING you will have the opportunity to edit the letter that is sent on your behalf. 

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Join the webinar – June 30, 7:30PM

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization is seeking a massive expansion. Yesterday it announced a plan to bolster its “high readiness” force from 40,000 troops to 300,000.

Canada is increasingly bound to NATO. The New York Times reported that Canadian special forces are part of a NATO mission in Ukraine.

Join Djibo Sobukwe, Janine Solanki, Danny Haiphong and Tamara Lorincz for a discussion on resisting global NATO.

Find out about NATO’s role across the globe from North America and Europe to Africa to China and its relationship to wars, colonial violence and structural white supremacy.

Speakers will also share information about protests happening across Canada.

Register here.

Join the 24 Hour Peace Wave: No to Militarization – Yes to Cooperation

peacewave

June 25-26 2022  —  24peacewave.org

We’re a global movement and a global community with brilliant voices at every longitude and latitude of the Earth. Let’s show it!

 

The G7 will be meeting near Munich June 26-28. NATO will be meeting in Madrid on June 28-30.

 

Our goal is to speak up for peace and cooperation, the scaling back and dismantling of military alliances, the disarmament of governments, and the democratization and strengthening of international institutions of nonviolent cooperation and the rule of law.

 

Our plan is to hold a non-stop 24-hour rolling rally live streaming on a Zoom channel moving west around the Earth from 2 p.m. in Ireland on June 25 to 4 p.m. in Ukraine on June 26. There will be video from protests, demonstrations, vigils, teach-ins, and speakers at their desks. There will be music and art.

Learn more and sign up here.

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Advocating for Peace in Ukraine

Canada-Wide Peace and Justice Network members have been actively advocating for Peace in Ukraine for many months and are continuing to do so. We as a collective have pushed for deescalation and an end to this war and once more are raising the alarm to the threat of nuclear deployment facing humanity. In addition to organizing a rally in your community, we encourage you to write or meet with your local MP, write a letter to the editor, donate or sign any petition calling for peace.

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#CanadaStopArmingSaudi Day of Action to End the War in Yemen

#CanadaStopArmingSaudi Day of Action
End the War in Yemen

Canada has blood on its hands.

March 26 2022 marks seven years of the brutal war in Yemen. A war that has killed over a quarter of a million people. Over 4 million people have been displaced because of the war, and 70% of the population, including 11.3 million children, are in desperate need of humanitarian assistance.

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.

After months of escalating organizing across the country — from arms blockades and banner drops, to car caravans and dozens of protests, to media exposés and damning reports — we know the Trudeau government is feeling the pressure.

The war in Yemen must stop! Antiwar and peace activists and organizations are marking 7 years of the war on Yemen with a day of action on March 26 & 27.

Online Actions to Take Right Now

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.

Email your MP here

Sign the Parliamentary Petition

Call on Canada to stop fueling the 7-year-long war in Yemen. When submitted, this petition will obligate the Trudeau Government to submit an official response.

Sign here

Online rally

We held an online rally on March 31st to learn about the war in Yemen, Canada’s role in the violence, and take collective action to make #CanadaStopArmingSaudi. Watch the recording by clicking the play button below, or access on Youtube here.

Join the Day of Action to End the War in Yemen and Demand #CanadaStopArmingSaudi

Thank you to everyone who came out to an action on March 26-27  in 7 cities across Canada to call for an end to the war in Yemen and to demand #CanadaStopArmingSaudi. More photos, videos, and news coverage here.

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Don’t forget to use the hashtags #CanadaStopArmingSaudi and #YemenCantWait
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Email your MP – No more weapons to Saudi Arabia

Canada has blood on its hands.

Now approaching its seventh year, the war in Yemen has killed over a quarter of a million people. Over 4 million people have been displaced because of the war, and 70% of the population, including 11.3 million children, are in desperate need of humanitarian assistance.

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 arms to Saudi Arabia.

The UN Human Rights Council has twice named Canada as one of the states fueling the ongoing war in Yemen by continuing arms sales to Saudi Arabia.

After months of escalating organizing across the country — from arms blockades and banner drops, to car caravans and dozens of protests, to media exposés and damning reports — we know the Trudeau government is feeling the pressure.

Send a letter now calling on the Canadian government to stop sending weapons to Saudi Arabia and stop arming the horrific war in Yemen. Canada must immediately end all arms exports to Saudi Arabia, expand humanitarian aid for the people of Yemen, and work with trade unions to develop a plan for a just transition for arms industry workers who would be impacted by the cessation of arms exports to Saudi Arabia.

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Join the Global Day of Action to End the War on Yemen

March 25/26 2021

March 25/26 marks 6 years of a brutal U.S.-backed, Canada-armed, Saudi-led war on Yemen. Alongside an indiscriminate and ongoing bombing campaign, Saudi Arabia and the UAE, backed by the United States, have imposed an air, land and sea blockade on Yemen. The blockade has caused critical fuel and food shortages, resulting in 400,000 children at risk of dying right now in Yemen, as reported by CNN. Even before the Covid-19 pandemic, the United Nations had declared  Yemen the worst humanitarian crisis in the world. Now Yemen is facing famine along with the Covid-19 pandemic, with an overwhelmed medical system devastated by war and blockade.

Alongside the U.S. and U.K., Canada also has blood on its hands as it also continues to profit from selling arms to Saudi Arabia and other countries in the military coalition. On September 28, 2020, the UN Human Rights Council named Canada as one of the parties fueling the ongoing war in Yemen by continuing arms sales to Saudi Arabia. Canada exported nearly $2.9-billion worth of military equipment to Saudi Arabia in 2019.

The war on Yemen must stop! Antiwar and peace activists and organizations are marking 6 years of the war on Yemen with days of action on March 25 and 26. As fellow activists across Canada, we encourage you to hold actions in your towns and cities on these days. Actions can include street actions, car caravans, webinars, letter writing, and social media campaigns, considering your local situation.

 Action Ideas & Resources

  • Deliver a letter: 68 organizations across Canada have signed a letter to demand that Canada Stop Arming Saudi and to highlight 28 companies in Canada complicit in this arms deal. The letter has been delivered in person to Justin Trudeau’s office, as well as a number of other MPs and companies listed in it. We encourage others to also deliver the letter to government officials and named companies in your area. If you take this action remember to take a photo of the delivery and post on social media using the hashtags #CanadaStopArmingSaudi and #YemenCantWait. Photos of letter deliveries are being collected and posted here.
  • Residents of Canada are invited to sign these two parliamentary petitions:

Whatever action you decide to take, remember to reflect your action on social media with the hashtag #CanadaStopArmingSaudi and #YemenCantWait so activists and organizations across Canada can amplify each others actions!