The Canadian Voice of Women for Peace and the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom-Canada (WILPF-Canada) have sent a joint letter to Governor General Mary Simon calling on her to oppose the federal government’s $38.6 billion plan to militarize the north through the new defence policy update entitled, Our North, Strong and Free: A Renewed Vision for Canada’s Defence.
The new defence policy will greatly expand the military presence of the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in the Arctic with serious social and environmental risks. This costly, carbon-intensive plan to militarize the fragile oceanic region poses a grave threat to Inuit communities and the climate. Read our letter below.
Governor General Mary Simon was the former President of the Inuit Circumpolar Council. In 1989, she published an important article, “Toward an Arctic Zone of Peace: An Inuit Perspective”, read it below.
VOW and WILPF-Canada are appealing Governor Simon to renew her call and make the Arctic a Zone of Peace and a Nuclear Weapons Free Zone.
Read Tamara’s article, New defence update and federal budget recklessly put Canada on a warpath, which was published in the Hamilton Spectator, Waterloo Record and Atlantic Saltwire News.
Read Tamara’s longer article about Canada’s plans for the North in The Canada Files: Hyper-militarist defence policy update and federal budget put Canada on dangerous warpath
Please send a donation today to support VOW’s important work to make the Arctic a zone of peace: https://vowpeace.org/join-renew-donate/
