It’s the Int’l Day for the Elimination of Nuclear Weapons | September 26
The United Nations says, “This Day provides an occasion for the world community to reaffirm its commitment to global nuclear disarmament as a priority. It provides an opportunity to educate the public – and their leaders – about the real benefits of eliminating such weapons, and the social and economic costs of perpetuating them.”
To mark the day, PeaceQuest joined with 38 other peace and social justice groups in calling on the federal government to sign and ratify the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) as soon as possible.
In an open letter to Prime Minister Trudeau, PeaceQuest and the others said that Canada should, “adhere to its legal obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, to abide by the United Nations’ Agenda for Disarmament, to respect the will of Canadian citizens and to honour the desires of the international community to live in a world free of nuclear weapons.”
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Earlier this week, on September 21, the International Day of Peace, 56 former leaders and ministers including several eminent Canadians signed an open letter issued by ICAN to urge all countries to join the TPNW. The Canadian signatories include former Prime Ministers John Turner and Jean Chretien, former Defence Ministers Jean-Jacques Blais, John McCallum and Bill Graham, and former Foreign Affairs Ministers Lloyd Axworthy and John Manley.
Just days before his death, former prime minister John Turner added his signature to an open letter calling on current world leaders to abolish nuclear weapons.
As Tamara Lawrence and Glenn Michalchuko (who organized the open letter from peace groups) pointed out in the pages of Halifax’s Chronicle Herald and the Charlottetown The Guardian, “One of the last political acts by former prime minister John Turner before he passed away was to add his signature to an open letter calling on current world leaders to abolish nuclear weapons.” You can read their excellent article in the Guardian.
