Campaigns

Tuesday, August 30
7 PM CEST/6PM WAT/1PM EDT.
English with French and Arabic interpretation.
Languages: English, French, Arabic

This webinar “A Climate of Insecurity for COP27–African women raising their voices for feminist climate justice,” invites you to listen to feminist activists and women human rights defenders’ lived experiences of the impacts of the climate crisis on the African continent. Panelists will share why the climate crisis is a feminist issue, and how it affects and compounds other challenges in their region. From Zimbabwe to Cameroon, from Ghana to South Africa, speakers will shed light on the interlinkages between the climate crisis, gender, and issues such as conflict, food security, and livelihoods. With COP27 taking place on the African continent and droughts, wildfires, flooding, and soaring temperatures accelerating in their countries, panelists will share key demands for COP27 to effectively address the climate crisis and alleviate the worst impacts on the African continent.

Opening remarks: Sylvie Ndongmo, WILPF International President
Panelists: Aubine Zambou (WILPF Cameroon), Mpiwa Mangwiro (WILPF South Africa), Ayo Ayoola-Amale (WILPF Ghana) and Edwick Madzimure (WILPF Zimbabwe)
Co-moderators: Tamara Lorincz, WILPF Canada and Katrin Geyer, WILPF Environment Focal Point
International Secretariat
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Join the Days of Action Stop the Weapons, Stop the War, Stop NATO from June 24-30 to coincide with the protests against the NATO Summit in Spain. NATO is a dangerous US-led nuclear-armed military alliance that is provoking conflict and pushing militarism. WILPF members will be participating in rallies across Canada.

WILPF Nanaimo is organizing an event at noon on Wednesday, June 29 at Diana Krall Plaza in Nanaimo to raise consciousness about the dangers of belonging to an aggressive nuclear-armed alliance with first-strike capacity. We will likely walk briefly to the corner of Commercial St. and the highway near Port Place Mall. Find a rally near you.

Because of Canada’s membership in NATO, a nuclear-armed military alliance, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau did not send any diplomats to attend and observe the first meeting of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) in Vienna in June and is also refusing to sign and ratify the TPNW. Canada is on the wrong side of the nuclear divide. Follow WILPF’s disarmament program ‘Reaching Critical Will’ for updates.

WILPF Canada sent a package to every member of the Standing Committee on National Defence and the Senate Committee on Security and National Defence to conduct a public inquiry into the planned purchase of Lockheed Martin F-35 fighter jets. Canada’s plan to buy 88 new F-35s for $19 billion is the second most expensive federal procurement in Canadian history. The U.S. Congress has conducted hearings on the F-35 but Canada has not.

WILPF Canada is demanding that our elected officials in the House of Commons and our appointed Senators do their due diligence and study the social, climate, environmental and financial risks of the fighter jets before any contract is signed. Under legislation, the federal government is supposed to conduct consultations with Indigenous communities to ensure free, prior and informed consent and a gender-based analysis to understand the impact of procurement and policies on women in Canada – these requirements have not been done and released to the public.

We sent each member a copy of our report “Soaring: The Harms and Risks of Fighter Jets and Why Canada Must Not Buy a New Fleet.” Read our letter to Standing Committee chair John McKay and our letter to Senate Committee chair Tony Dean. We did not receive any reply. Tell your MP that you want a full public inquiry into the F-35 purchase and that you do not want Canada to buy new fighter jets but to build a green care economy.

Please also read our 2022 UN Submission “The Militarization of Indigenous Land in Canada“

WILPF members protested the CANSEC, the largest arms fair in North America, that takes place in Ottawa every spring. Canada needs to invest in a green care economy not the military-industrial complex. Read the report and see photos below.

WILPF Canada members participated in the “Cancel CANSEC” protests in Ottawa from June 1-2. CANSEC is the largest arms fair in North America and takes place every spring in Canada’s capital. CANSEC is organized by Canadian Association of Defence and Security Industries (CADSI), which lobbies the federal government for more military spending. CANSEC was attended by the biggest manufacturers in the world, such as Lockheed Martin, Boeing, General Dynamics, Raytheon and BAE among many others to peddle their weapon systems. We welcomed them with signs “Arms Fairs: Not in Our Name, Not with Our Money” and “Warmongers not welcome!” held by activists dressed in grim reaper costumes.
On the first day of CANSEC, we blocked the roads and slowed down the cars coming into conference to hear Defence Minister Anita Anand give her opening address. In her speech, Anand stated, “Through our government’s defence policy, Strong, Secure, Engaged, Canada’s defence spending is once again on an upward trajectory. We are raising defence spending by over 70% between 2017 and 2026.” While Anand was speaking, we held our banners “Cut Military Spending: Let’s Fund a Green Care Economy” and “Demilitarize Decarbonize Decolonize” and joined over two hundred activists from across Canada and North America outside the conference gates. During the Lockheed Martin reception in the afternoon, activists stood with their “No New Fighter Jets” banners and called for the cancellation of the F-35 contract.

On the second day, No CANSEC organizer Mary and WILPF member Tamara went back to protest the arms conference in the morning while the Minister of Procurement Filomena Tassi spoke about Canada’s plan to buy new fighter jets and warships. Canada is spending $19 billion for 88 new fossil-fuel powered fighter jets and $77 billion for 15 warships, which does not include the life-cycle costs. These weapons systems will harm people and the planet and will lock in carbon-intensive militarism for the next five decades.
The protests were organized by the “No CANSEC” organizing committee comprised of members of the Ottawa Peace Council, No War Paix, Anti-Imperialist Alliance, Peace Brigades International, World Beyond War Canada and the Canadian Voice of Women for Peace. The protests were endorsed by peace groups including WILPF Canada. Members of the International League for People’s Struggle came from across North America to rally with us. We received good media coverage of our protests and many people took great photos, check it out here.

Next year, we want Ottawa to host an exhibition on greening the economy not militarizing it. Help us shut down CANSEC.

WILPF Canada member Tamara Lorincz is heading to COP 26 climate summit in Glasgow this week. She is joining WILPF International’s delegation to the summit. Tamara will be bringing WILPF Canada’s message to “Demilitarize Decarbonize Decolonize.” She will have our new pins, leaflets and banners. Tamara will be participating in the peace and climate events. You can follow WILPF at COP 26 on social media: #WILPFCOP26 and #NoWarNoWarming
Tamara will also be participating in the People’s Summit. Many of the events at virtual and you can tune in. Tamara is a member of WILPF’s Environment Group and is involved in the Arms, Militarism and Climate Justice working group. She will be doing a report back from COP 26 with other WILPF members on Sunday, November 21 at 10 am PST / 1 pm ET. More details to come.

Rapidly reducing carbon emissions is impossible with NATO’s rising militarism and military spending.
NATO is recklessly diverting our attention and resources to war and away from the grave threat of global warming.
NATO members spend over $1 trillion annually on their militaries, which is almost 60% of global military spending. At the NATO Summit in Wales in 2014, members made a commitment to spend 2% of their GDP on the military with 20% of that amount to be on equipment (primarily weapons systems).
Since the Paris Agreement was signed in 2015, NATO members have increased their military spending by $200 billion annually. Yet, they have failed to meet their United Nations climate financing pledge of $100 billion per year for developing countries to adapt to worsening climate change.
Check out our Fact Sheet NATO is a threat to people and the planet [PDF]. Lire la fiche d’information en Français L’otan est un danger pour l’humanité et la planète [PDF]. Find out more on our campaigns page.

Check out WILPF Canada’s new Fact Sheet [PDF] Canada’s Carbon Bootprint: The Problem of Military Emissions and Expenditures. Lire la fiche d’information en Français L’empreinte carbone du Canada [PDF]
In Canada, among all federal departments and agencies, it is the military that has the biggest carbon bootprint. DND including the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) consumes the most fossil fuel and is the largest emitter of GHGs. Carbon emissions from the military account for over 61% of all emissions by the federal government. Annual military emissions are at least 1,600,000 tonnes of CO2-eq or 1.6 Mt. Find out more on our Campaigns page.

Sources:
Access to Information [PDF]
Greening Government: https://www.canada.ca/en/treasury-board-secretariat/services/innovation/greening-government.html
Tamara’s article “Burning and Bombing: Military Expenditures, Military Emissions and the Climate Emergency”: http://peacemagazine.org/archive/v36n2p08.htm