Today the first half of the 2023 Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW) meeting on autonomous weapons ended. Once again, little to no progress was made towards a new legally-binding instrument on autonomous weapons. Despite growing international momentum for a treaty and excellent statements from some states this week, we are not hopeful those statements will translate into action because the structure of the CCW allows for just one state to block all progress. We need to get out of this stalemate, and make real progress towards a treaty. And you can help!

While we cannot do much about the structure of the CCW, we can call on Canada to lead negotiations under the United Nations General Assembly and for that reason….

We are launching a new autonomous weapons petition to Parliament!

The new petition calls upon the Government of Canada to:

1. "Prohibit the domestic development, importation and use of autonomous weapon systems that do not allow for meaningful human control.
2. Develop national regulations so that other autonomous weapon systems will be used only with meaningful human control.
3. Take an active leadership role in international negotiations to prohibit autonomous weapons systems through new international law under the auspices of the United Nations General Assembly or another inclusive multilateral forum” 

If you want our government to take action against killer robots, print out the attached paper petition and encourage 25 people to sign. You can ask your friends, family, co-workers, neighbours - anyone who doesn’t want to see a world where autonomous weapons exist.

Once you have 25 signatures, you can mail the petition to your Member of Parliament for them to present in the House of Commons. If you do not know who your MP is, you can find their name and phone number here. It’s always a good idea to call their constituency office to ask if they will support the petition. If they won’t or you do not want to call them, that’s ok. Elizabeth May, MP for Saanich-Gulf Island, is sponsoring this petition and will present any submissions in the House of Commons.

Mailing letters to MPs is free, so it requires no stamp. Just put the MP’s name and the following address on your envelope and drop the letter in your local mailbox.

House of Commons
Ottawa, Ontario,
Canada
K1A 0A6

Petitions are a great way for supporters, like you, to get involved with our work on killer robots. By signing and sharing a petition, you are making your voice heard to decision-makers. Members of Parliament want to know what their constituents care about, and petitions are an excellent way of showing them that Canadians care about banning autonomous weapons!

We are doing this as a paper petition and not an e-petition because e-petitions are only presented once to parliament, while paper petitions get presented every time at least 25 people sign it.

Get involved with Mines Action Canada by sharing this petition and collecting 25 signatures. Together, we can show the Government of Canada that Canadians are saying NO to autonomous weapons. 

Download the petition here. 

Don’t think you can get 25 signatures? That’s ok, get as many as you can and send them in to MP Elizabeth May. Her office can combine your signatures with another petition to make sure your voice is heard!