For Canada to sign the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons would be an important commitment; however as Canada is a member of NATO I am doubtful if it could be done. I became a pacifist at about age 8, after learning why we had air raid drills in my elementary school in San Francisco. We were supposed to get under our desks in case of a nuclear attack, if you can picture that! I remember asking my mother, "Mom, are we all going to die?" I can't recall how she must have reassured me, but our family was always skeptical of the propaganda of our US government. Silhouettes of Soviet jet fighters were published on the front page of the newspaper, and we were exhorted to 'watch the skies' and report seeing anything to the Civil Defense department. Underground streetcar tunnels in the city were declared 'bomb shelters' and parents were urged to sign permission for the school to bus us children to Sunnyvale, down the peninsula. (Now known as part of Silicon Valley.) My parents refused to sign, saying that was absurd, there would be no protection from fallout from a nuclear weapon there, and we would just be separated from our families. At school on 'art day' we were given mimeographed pictures to colour in; one was a four-pointed star inside a circle. Years later, I realized it was the NATO symbol. I spent my life in the US questioning the government and realizing that the American dream was a fantasy for so many people left out or stripped of their human rights. Fast forward through the Vietnam War and coming to Canada. I became a Canadian citizen so I could vote; and have since renounced my US citizenship, and focus on what I can do as a Canadian to campaign for nuclear disarmament and an end to war. I realize that is a privilege that billions of other people around the world do not have, and they are suffering the horrible effects of war as we speak. I can no longer march in demonstrations, but I can sign every petition that comes to my email. I would hope that the movie would stir people to action. Two American movies that dealt with the psychological damage to soldiers in war were 'Stop-Loss' and 'In the Valley of Elah'. In the latter film, the image at the end of the retired military man flying the American flag upside-down is a symbol of the nation in distress. That has been used by opposing sides of the political spectrum, to be sure. I hope we never have to fly our Canadian flag upside down. Peace be with you all.
Another memory - likely sometime in 2017 there an invitation to a public signing, on a large bristol board petition, of the 'Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons' TPNW, at Matt Cohen Parkette in downtown Toronto. I attended that and personally signed the document along with other anti-war persons, including long time conscientious objector Frank Showler who was then in his late 90's. The group then delivered the signed petition to the office of then MP and perhaps Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland which was just a few steps away from the parkette. We were well received by her office staff. I wish that Canada would officially sign that Treaty.
I and many watched 'The Day After' film in the early 80's, about a multiple nuclear weapon strike on the U.S. with the story focused on a family in Lawrence, Kansas and Kansas City Missouri. It was very frightening and influenced a lot of us in the 80's to join anti-nuclear protests. I, my kids and some at my Mennonite church did in Hamilton, Ontario. I remember attending meetings of the Peace Coalition which was about how to influence governments to disarm at least from Nuclear weapons. We also walked in anti-nuclear protests in the streets of Hamilton, joining like protests around the world. I have read recently that President Ronald Reagan was so emotionally alarmed by seeing the film that he began the negotiations with Soviet Union leader Gorbachev to begin the dismantling of some of the nuclear arsenal that was aimed in both directions between the U.S. and the Soviet Union. Here is what I found on Google - "Reagan and Gorbachev's primary agreement on nuclear weapons was the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, signed in 1987. This landmark agreement was the first to eliminate an entire class of nuclear weapons by requiring the U.S. and the Soviet Union to destroy all their ground-launched ballistic and cruise missiles with ranges between 500 and 5,500 kilometers. The treaty included a strict verification regime with intrusive on-site inspections to ensure compliance."
Would that the present U.S. administration as well as their so-called adversaries would take similar action to begin the total elimination of nuclear weapons. Presently there is - "The treaty to ban nuclear weapons is the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW), which comprehensively prohibits all activities related to nuclear weapons, with the goal of their total elimination. Adopted by 122 states on July 7, 2017, at the UN, it entered into force on January 22, 2021, after 50 states ratified it. The TPNW prohibits the development, testing, production, possession, transfer, use, or threat of use of nuclear weapons." Canada, nor any NATO member has signed the TPNW, preferring to hang on to their nuclear weapons. For the sake of humanity and all life on Earth we must begin to build trust instead of fear among nations.
For Canada to sign the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons would be an important commitment; however as Canada is a member of NATO I am doubtful if it could be done. I became a pacifist at about age 8, after learning why we had air raid drills in my elementary school in San Francisco. We were supposed to get under our desks in case of a nuclear attack, if you can picture that! I remember asking my mother, "Mom, are we all going to die?" I can't recall how she must have reassured me, but our family was always skeptical of the propaganda of our US government. Silhouettes of Soviet jet fighters were published on the front page of the newspaper, and we were exhorted to 'watch the skies' and report seeing anything to the Civil Defense department. Underground streetcar tunnels in the city were declared 'bomb shelters' and parents were urged to sign permission for the school to bus us children to Sunnyvale, down the peninsula. (Now known as part of Silicon Valley.) My parents refused to sign, saying that was absurd, there would be no protection from fallout from a nuclear weapon there, and we would just be separated from our families. At school on 'art day' we were given mimeographed pictures to colour in; one was a four-pointed star inside a circle. Years later, I realized it was the NATO symbol. I spent my life in the US questioning the government and realizing that the American dream was a fantasy for so many people left out or stripped of their human rights. Fast forward through the Vietnam War and coming to Canada. I became a Canadian citizen so I could vote; and have since renounced my US citizenship, and focus on what I can do as a Canadian to campaign for nuclear disarmament and an end to war. I realize that is a privilege that billions of other people around the world do not have, and they are suffering the horrible effects of war as we speak. I can no longer march in demonstrations, but I can sign every petition that comes to my email. I would hope that the movie would stir people to action. Two American movies that dealt with the psychological damage to soldiers in war were 'Stop-Loss' and 'In the Valley of Elah'. In the latter film, the image at the end of the retired military man flying the American flag upside-down is a symbol of the nation in distress. That has been used by opposing sides of the political spectrum, to be sure. I hope we never have to fly our Canadian flag upside down. Peace be with you all.
Another memory - likely sometime in 2017 there an invitation to a public signing, on a large bristol board petition, of the 'Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons' TPNW, at Matt Cohen Parkette in downtown Toronto. I attended that and personally signed the document along with other anti-war persons, including long time conscientious objector Frank Showler who was then in his late 90's. The group then delivered the signed petition to the office of then MP and perhaps Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland which was just a few steps away from the parkette. We were well received by her office staff. I wish that Canada would officially sign that Treaty.
I and many watched 'The Day After' film in the early 80's, about a multiple nuclear weapon strike on the U.S. with the story focused on a family in Lawrence, Kansas and Kansas City Missouri. It was very frightening and influenced a lot of us in the 80's to join anti-nuclear protests. I, my kids and some at my Mennonite church did in Hamilton, Ontario. I remember attending meetings of the Peace Coalition which was about how to influence governments to disarm at least from Nuclear weapons. We also walked in anti-nuclear protests in the streets of Hamilton, joining like protests around the world. I have read recently that President Ronald Reagan was so emotionally alarmed by seeing the film that he began the negotiations with Soviet Union leader Gorbachev to begin the dismantling of some of the nuclear arsenal that was aimed in both directions between the U.S. and the Soviet Union. Here is what I found on Google - "Reagan and Gorbachev's primary agreement on nuclear weapons was the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, signed in 1987. This landmark agreement was the first to eliminate an entire class of nuclear weapons by requiring the U.S. and the Soviet Union to destroy all their ground-launched ballistic and cruise missiles with ranges between 500 and 5,500 kilometers. The treaty included a strict verification regime with intrusive on-site inspections to ensure compliance."
Would that the present U.S. administration as well as their so-called adversaries would take similar action to begin the total elimination of nuclear weapons. Presently there is - "The treaty to ban nuclear weapons is the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW), which comprehensively prohibits all activities related to nuclear weapons, with the goal of their total elimination. Adopted by 122 states on July 7, 2017, at the UN, it entered into force on January 22, 2021, after 50 states ratified it. The TPNW prohibits the development, testing, production, possession, transfer, use, or threat of use of nuclear weapons." Canada, nor any NATO member has signed the TPNW, preferring to hang on to their nuclear weapons. For the sake of humanity and all life on Earth we must begin to build trust instead of fear among nations.