|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
View Answers
Question 4: SecurityIn promoting the security of Canadians, where should our priorities lie? Should
Canada give a higher priority to military combat operations? To sectors such
as intelligence gathering and analysis? Or should we focus on broader security
measures, such as combatting environmental degradation and the spread of infectious
disease? What should be our distinctive role in promoting global security? |
|
| Contributor: | eryl |
| Date: |
2003-05-01 12:10:28 |
| Answer: |
Dear Minister Graham:
Responding to your invitation to a dialogue on our external policy:
Canada's proper and unique role in the World is as a peacemaking nation. This is a clear mandate. It must not be compromised in any way.
The following two proposals are, in my view, essential:
1. The "Missile Defense System" that is being advocated by the United States, with the intention of involving Canada, constitutes the shield associated with the sword that is NATO's strategy. It is an integral part of war planning that runs contrary to Canada's role, and which we must reject.
Various events, including the attack of September 11, 2001, have demonstrated that the missile defense plan cannot ward off an attack against the North American continent. (This is substantiated by widely-expressed eminent qualified opinion, including that of Nobel Science and Peace Laureate Professor John Polanyi of the University of Toronto). All the more is it impossible to ward off an attack from within continental North America by such means.
2. It is now also increasingly clear that war is no longer an acceptable or practical means of solving international disputes. As the method of violence rather than law, (and considering the weapons of mass destruction possessed by the World's "Great Powers"), war can lead only to universal annihilation, which is now a clear and present danger to humanity. War must be outlawed. As stated in the declaration of The Hague Appeal for Peace, there is a human right to peace. It must be the right of every child on earth to grow up in a World in one Peace.
The only defence, the only security for all countries and peoples, is human security, common security, as has been advocated over numerous years by Canada's Liberal leadership, including your predecessor, Hon. Lloyd Axworthy. It is this, and our unique role as a peacemaking nation, that we must continue to insist upon, as the immovable foundation of our external policy; and I urge that you adhere to it with unswerving determination.
I shall greatly appreciate your specific response to this submission.
Sincerely,
(Mrs.) Eryl Court
109 Wilton Street
Toronto, ON M5A 4A3 |
|
|
|
|
