Canada: No More War Games on Dying Oceans During a Pandemic
U.S. Navy photo by Chief Mass Communication Specialist Keith Devinney/RELEASED (July 27, 2012)
Already know about RIMPAC and want to call on Canada to end it’s participation? Be a part of our letter campaign and send a letter to cancel RIMPAC 2020!
What is RIMPAC?
The Rim of the Pacific Exercise, otherwise known as RIMPAC is a military exercise led by the United States Navy every 2 years in and around the Hawaiian Islands and Southern California. Over 25 countries and 25,000 military personnel have participated in recent years, bringing with them 47 surface ships, 5 submarines and more than 200 aircrafts. It is the largest maritime military exercise in the world and has been held since its inception in 1971.
What happens at RIMPAC?
The participating militaries engage in hypothetical sea battle scenarios which often include live-gunnery fire, missiles, sinking decommissioned naval ships (SINKEX), vessel boardings, undersea warfare and air defense exercises. RIMPAC provides militaries with a way to show their latest weaponry, impose economic dependency on Hawaii and dominate the Pacific Rim.
Why do we oppose Canada’s participation in RIMPAC 2020?
COVID-19 Concerns and Canada’s Priorities
The world is in a health pandemic with a virus that spreads easily through close contact and which costs countries billions to manage. Naval ships do not offer adequate space or conditions for proper social distancing, the participation in hypothetical war games would risk the Canadian Armed Forces personnel’s health and safety and is contradictory to the restrictions and safeguards in place within Canada to combat COVID-19. Updated restrictions put in place for RIMPAC 2020 are not enough to guarantee the safety of Hawaiians, and there is a risk of a significant impact on the number of COVID-19 cases in Hawaii if RIMPAC 2020 goes forward.
Furthermore, the Canadian government should be focusing time, resources, and money on citizens struggling during a pandemic rather than on a military show with other countries. Canada has stated its full support of the United Nations (UN) call for a global ceasefire in order to combat COVID-19, yet still plans to participate in RIMPAC 2020 in August. The global ceasefire was called by the UN to mobilize countries to focus on the current global pandemic which requires resources, money and consistent monitoring in order to be managed to lessen mortality rates.
With Canada’s sky-rocketing debt from supporting Canadians during the COVID-19 response that could total up to 1 trillion dollars, we must redirect funds from exorbitant military expenditures, like that of our 15 warships projected at 70 billion dollars, to investing in caring, cleaning and protecting our oceans and endangered marine life.
Negative Environmental Impacts
Every 2 years RIMPAC has detrimental effects on the environment. Instead of these ships being recycled safely, decommissioned naval ships are towed out to be shot at and sunk during exercises where they crush deep-sea corals. Multiple exercises have resulted in damaging effects on the Hawaiian Islands, including a devastating bush fire during RIMPAC 2018 that was ignited by flares released during an exercise. Marine wildlife is also affected during RIMPAC; sonar use, as well as gun and missile fire, have all been found to negatively affect marine wildlife in the area surrounding exercises. Strandings of whales have been reported during previous RIMPAC events and have been found to be caused by the United States Navy’s use of sonar. There is no way to know the true numbers of effected marine wildlife, as sonar is proven to affect marine wildlife through thousands of square miles of ocean.
Petitions
Citizens across the globe are mobilizing against RIMPAC 2020, petitions have been created in the United States, New Zealand and Hawaii for their governments to end RIMPAC and their participation. Join us in demanding that Canada does not participate in RIMPAC 2020.
SEND A LETTER – Let Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan, Minister of Finance Bill Morneau and Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Coast Guard Bernadette Jordan that Canada has no place participating in RIMPAC 2020.
Petitions to other participatory RIMPAC governments:
For People, Land, Air and Sea: Stop RIMPAC Military Exercises
CANCEL RIMPAC- The World’s Largest Naval War Practice that with COVID19 Endangers Hawaii & the World
Don’t forget to share with our hashtags and get the word out! #CancelRIMPAC #CanadiansAgainstRIMPAC #NoWarGamesOnDyingOceans #NoWarshipsOnDyingOceans