The Canada-Wide Peace and Justice Network will be organizing 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. Visit this page for more information on virtual and in-person actions.
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
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.
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
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’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!
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.
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!
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!
Human Rights, Canadian Imperialism and Haiti’s Fight for Self-Determination
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
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.
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.
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 !
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.
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!
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!
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!
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.
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!
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!
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!
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.
Wednesday, October 19th, 5PM Enercare Centre, Toronto
(Updated date as of October 11th)
100 Princes’ Blvd Unit 1, Toronto, ON M6K 3C3, Canada
The Canadian Armed Forces are holding a recruiting event through the Ontario College Information Fair 2022. Socialist Action is committed to non-violent direct action. We plan to disrupt military recruitment by exposing the reality of war. We will protest the event by standing outside the entrance with various signs that inform students of the coercive actions behind the Canadian military’s recruitment. We welcome any anti-war and peace movement organizations to join us in this event.
Our demands are:
Please get in touch with us if you are interested in collaborating.
Event information is linked here
Sunday, October 23rd, 1PM at Parkette on the Southeast corner of Spadina Road and Bloor Street, Toronto
The Toronto Association for Peace and Solidarity and the Canadian Peace Congress are planning to hold a demonstration on Sunday, October 23rd, starting at 1:00 p.m. The venue will be the parkette on the Southeast corner of Spadina Road and Bloor Street in Toronto.
Sunday, October 16th, 4:30PM Place du 6e décembre, Chemin Queen Mary, Côte-des-Neiges, Ville de Montréal
THE PEOPLE SAY, “NO TO US WAR!”
Demonstrate for just peace against US-led aggression
Join International Women’s Alliance (IWA) in Canada and friends at the at 16:30, Sunday, October 16th at Chemin Queen Mary in Côte-des-Neiges.
For more information, follow IWA here.
Thursday, October 20th, 9AM, Parc Saint-Simon-Apôtre, 200 Rue Legendre O, Ville de Montréal
Canada must sign the nuclear ban treaty (TPNW)!
World BEYOND War Montreal and partners will gather to march to the office of Mélanie Joly, Minister of Foreign Affairs. The march is about 10 minutes long on city sidewalks. We will have flyers, banners, and a letter demanding that Canada sign the sign the Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear weapons.
Organizational and individual signers welcome! To sign the letter, click here.
Saturday, October 22nd, 2-3:30PM Westminster Quay, 8th and Colombia, New Westminster, BC
Vancouver area network groups and their friends will again demonstrate for just peace: Mobilization against Wars and Occupation, Fire this Time Social Justice Movement, Just Peace Committee and other affiliates of the International League of Peoples’ Struggles, World Beyond War, Global Peace Alliance-BC Society.
While the U.S. pours more weapons into the proxy war in Ukraine–holding open the possibility of direct confrontation with nuclear-armed Russia, the war fanatics in Washington seem determined to start even more fires around the world. Nancy Pelosi’s trip to Taiwan; hints that the U.S. may be moving towards confrontation with China as well as strikes against Iran; and reports that new U.S./south Korea war games will practice a “decapitation” strike against the north (DPRK): all show the urgent need to speak out.
Today working people face escalating costs of food and energy, recession, growing insecurity and attacks on efforts to unionize. Sanctions on developing nations hurt impoverished workers there, while U.S. sanctions on Russia and China are at least partially responsible for rising energy prices and the current wave of inflation in many European and N. American countries.
Check out the Facebook event here.
Saturday, October 22nd, 10AM – 3:30PM Arnold Centre 135 Fennell Avenue West Hamilton, ON L9C 7V7
Hamilton Coalition to Stop the War
Register HERE: From Hegemony to Global Democracy: A Teach-In on Geopolitical Conflict
We are very pleased to present a special Teach-In event this month!
On Saturday, October 22, join us for a full two-session Teach-In about the weighty global conflicts that demand the world’s attention.
Our talented panelists will address NATO’s present conflicts with Russia and China, the changes that are happening in the world, and what Canada’s role should be.
Check out the event facebook page here.
Saturday, October 22nd 5:30-PM, Chilean community association, 519 4774 Westwind Drive NE Calgary
Join us for “Peace Potluck and Fun”
Friday, October 21st, 2PM outside the Federal Building on Hurontario Street, Collingwood
South Georgian Bay chapter of WBW (Pivot2Peace)
will hold an action on Friday, October 21 outside the
Federal Building on Hurontario Street, Collingwood, at 2:00 p.m.
Saturday, October 22nd, 12-1PM – River and Osborne, Winnipeg MB, R3L 0C9
Sunday, October 16 1-2PM, Waterloo Public Square, 75 Erb St. Waterloo
Ceasefire Now: Stop the War & the Weapons
Our peace rally at the Waterloo Public Square this Sunday is in solidarity with the #FundPeaceNotWar Week of Action.
From October 15th to 23rd, join Canadians across the country in demanding NO new fighter jets, warships, or drones! We need billions for housing, health care, jobs and climate, NOT for war profiteering!
We are also calling for a ceasefire and an end to the war in Ukraine. Shamefully, Canada continues to export weapons and military aid instead of supporting negotiations. We are risking dangerous nuclear escalation. We are also derailing global cooperation for climate action and worsening poverty. Canada is also exporting weapons to Saudi Arabia, Israel, Egypt and many other countries that foment violence. All wars must stop including in Yemen, Palestine etc. We need peace for people and the planet! Local event organized by the Canadian Voice of Women for Peace (VOW).
Afterward, we will go to Cafe 22 for coffee. Come & join us!
Waterloo rally on Facebook: https://fb.me/e/2VfeG3FjV
Sunday, October 16 2PM, US Embassy (meet on the long stairway) 490 Sussex Dr, Ottawa, ON K1N 1G8, Canada
Just Voices choir will sing three peace songs. We will bring signs calling for negotiations to end the conflict in Ukraine and defuse nuclear war.
Letter Writing
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
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.
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.
Are we missing an event? Can we help you organize one near you? Get in touch with us at canadapeaceandjustice@gmail.com
◉ Saturday, June 25 at 11:00, CBC Vancouver, 740 Hamilton St @ Georgia St.
◉ Organized by: Vancouver area members of the Canada Peace & Justice Network: Just Peace Committee, Global Alliance for Peace, World Beyond War, Mobilization Against War and Occupation, Fire This Time Movement for Social Justice. Supported by the Victoria Peace Coalition, East Indian Defence Committee and Canadian Voices of Women for Peace & Justice.
◉ Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/
◉ Sunday, June 26, 1PM, at the BC Legislature, corner of Belleville & Government to say No to NATO!
◉ Organized by the Victoria Peace Coalition and the Vancouver Island Peace Council
◉ Wednesday June 29th at noon at Diana Krall Plaza in Nanaimo
◉ Come out to participate in “No to NATO”, a national campaign from June 24th to 30th to raise consciousness about the dangers of belonging to an aggressive nuclear-armed alliance with first-strike capacity. We will likely walk briefly to the corner of Commercial street and the highway near Port Place Mall.
◉ Organized by WILPF, Womens’ International League for Peace and Freedom, Nanaimo chapter
◉ Picket to Oppose NATO Madrid Summit and RIMPAC 2022
◉ Thursday June 30, 4:00- 5:30 p.m. At the Constituency Office of Randy Boissonnault, 202-10235 124 St NW Edmonton
◉ Organized by the Edmonton Committee Against War and Racism (ECAWAR)
A WALK and Rally to protest NATO’s war-making and to call for Canada to leave NATO. Beginning Saturday June 25, at 2 p.m. at Regina City Hall. We will then parade to the Cenotaph in Victoria Park where we will be addressed by community activists/leaders. The sponsors for the walk/rally is the Regina Peace Council. For more information call Ed at 306 718 8010.
Wednesday, June 29
Rally 4pm at Portage Place, Speaker at 5pm
Organized by the Peace Alliance Winnipeg: https://www.peacealliancewinnipeg.ca https://facebook.com/PeaceAllianceWinnipeg
◉ Wednesday June 29, 4:00-6:00 pm. At the Constituency Office of Chrystia Freeland, Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister. 344 Bloor St. W., near Spadina subway.
◉ Picket to Oppose NATO Madrid Summit and RIMPAC 2022. Bring your banners and placards!
◉ Sponsored by: Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist), Socialist Action, and Canadian Voice of Women for Peace.
◉ Tuesday, June 28 (first day of NATO summit), 4:30-5:30 Waterloo Public Square
◉ Organized by the Canadian Voice of Women for Peace. For more information, please email Tamara: tlorincz@dal.ca
◉ Saturday, June 25 from 1 to 2 pm. Facebook event here.
◉ The rally will take place on Saturday, June 25, at the entrance to Jackson Square, at King and James Streets, Hamilton. Bring a sign! #CanadaOutOfNATO
◉ Organized by the Hamilton Coalition to Stop the War
◉ Tuesday, June 28 from 12:00-1:00 p.m. at the Minister of Defence Anita Anand’s Constituency Office, 301 Robinson Street, Oakville
◉ Organized by the Canadian Voice of Women for Peace. For more information, please email Tamara: tlorincz@dal.ca
◉ Friday June 24 at 2PM at the Federal Building in Collingwood (next to Loblaws)
◉ Organized by Pivot2Peace (South Georgian Bay Chapter of World BEYOND War).
◉ Wednesday, June 29th at 5PM at the Human Rights Monument, 220 Elgin Street. Marching to Prime Minister Office and the US Embassy.
◉ Organized by the Ottawa Peace Council
MONTRÉALRassemblement contre OTAN – Mardi 28 Juin, 17h30, Complexe Guy-Favreau. Info.
Canada hors de l’OTAN !
+ Lundi le 27 juin (organisé par Les Artistes pour la Paix). Plus de détails à venir.
Webinaire/discussion : Pourquoi continuer à dénoncer l’OTAN?
En ligne mercredi le 29 juin, de 19 h à 21 h. Veuillez vous inscrire ici.
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.
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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.
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.
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.
