Meet the author! Murray Thomson will be in town on Tuesday, May 17, in a book launch co-sponsored by WILPF, to promote his new book. Click this link for details: INVITE_BOOK LAUNCH
802 Recipients of the Order of Canada Call for a Nuclear Weapons Convention
Eight hundred and two recipients of the Order of Canada have joined an initiative led by John Polanyi, C.C., Douglas Roche, O.C. and Murray Thomson, O.C., calling for international negotiations to achieve a Nuclear Weapons Convention – a verifiable treaty on the prohibition and elimination of nuclear weapons.
The Order of Canada is the country’s highest civilian honour and is the centrepiece of Canada’s honours system. It recognizes a lifetime of outstanding achievement, dedication to the community and service to the nation. The initiative notes that
There is a growing consensus expressed by world leaders on the urgent need for ridding the world of nuclear weapons. A Nuclear Weapons Convention is widely recognized as the best negotiating process yet devised to bring about nuclear disarmament. In a recent speech to the UN General Assembly, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon stated that “All parties to the Non Proliferation Treaty could consider negotiating a nuclear weapons convention, backed by a strong verification system, as has long been proposed at the United Nations.” However, the vision of the elimination of all nuclear weapons, put forward by President Obama and many others today, requires the political will of governments for it to be achieved.
Accordingly, we call on all member States of the United Nations – including Canada – to endorse, and begin negotiations for, a Nuclear Weapons Convention as proposed by the UN Secretary-General in his five-point plan for nuclear disarmament.
