The Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom-Canada and the Canadian Voice of Women for Peace have sent a joint letter to Governor General Mary Simon calling on her to oppose the federal government’s $38.6 billion plan plan to militarize the north through the new defence policy update entitled, Our North, Strong and Free: A Renewed Vision for Canada’s Defence. It will expand the military presence of the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in the Arctic. This costly, carbon-intensive plan to militarize the fragile oceanic region poses a grave threat to Inuit communities and the climate.
Governor General Mary Simon was the former President of the Inuit Circumpolar Council. In 1989, she published an article, Toward an Arctic Zone of Peace: An Inuit Perspective. We are asking Governor Simon to renew her call and make the Arctic a Zone of Peace and a Nuclear Weapons Free Zone.
Read Tamara’s 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.
