Disarm and Live

Publisher:  People's Assembly on Canadian Foreign Policy, Canada
Year Published:  1977  
Pages:  8pp   Price:  Free  
Resource Type:  Article
Cx Number:  CX482

The People's Assembly on Canadian Foreign Policy is "an umbrella group" comprising a number of organizations who support military disarmament in the interests of peace.

Abstract:  The People's Assembly on Canadian Foreign Policy is "an umbrella group" comprising a number of organizations who support military disarmament in the interests of peace. Some of the groups involved are as follows: The Association of Ukrainian Canadians, The Canadian Council of Churches, The Congress of Canadian Women and Energy Probe. The People's Assembly supported an October 23 -30 "Peace Week in Canada" to call attention to their concerns. This brochure announced the Peace Week, but also describes the reasons behind the move. One major reason is that the United Nations will be holding a special session on disarmament in May, 1978 and The People's Assembly feels there should be public discussion before the event. This is seen as necessary because there is, at present, little serious discussion of disarmament among world governments. In this regard, the Canadian government has indicated its support of a comprehensive treaty of non-proliferation of nuclear arms and of stringent controls of the peaceful uses of nuclear energy. However, the brochure points out that the record to date of Canada on these issues has been poor. The brochure also briefly examines the major economic aspects of military spending and concludes that it is an inefficient means of creating jobs, it exports Canadian technological capacity, it drives up the price of comparable civilian technology and it makes Canada further dependent on the U.S. Thus, the group recommends major reduction in Canadian and world military spending and suggests eleven actions the reader can take toward this end.