Nobody wants doomsday to come. However, unfortunately world-renowned scientists and experts of the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists have moved the Doomsday Clock to 90 seconds to midnight which means we are in the most danger of nuclear war since the clock was launched in 1947.

 This danger doesn’t come as a surprise, and we know why we are here today. There are nine nuclear armed states in the world and they (and their supporters) are the ones who have put the world in this danger. The Russian invasion of Ukraine and increased tensions between North Korea, South Korea, and the United States are major reasons why scientists moved the doomsday clock. 

With only 90 seconds to midnight, it’s time to act. The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) has a four-step plan to rid the world of nuclear weapons, and you can help. The first step of their plan is prohibition, which means getting states to sign the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. Canada needs to take action in light of this danger we are facing and sign this treaty. Many major cities across Canada, including Halifax, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, and Vancouver have spoken out in support of joining the TPNW. The Federal government’s position should match what major municipal governments, parliamentarians, and citizens across Canada are asking for.  Contact your MP today and urge them to push Parliament to join the TPNW.

After the first step of the plan is taken and more countries (including Canada) have joined, we can move to step two which is creating a stigma around nuclear weapons. This stigma will lead to nuclear armed states negotiating disarmament which is step three in the plan. We know negotiations are possible because a treaty on non-proliferation of nuclear weapons was negotiated in the 1960’s after the Cuban missile crisis. Negotiations will bring us to step four which is the destruction and elimination of all nuclear weapons and with it, the doomsday clock. We have 90 seconds left to act - no more excuses Canada. It’s time to do our part to eliminate the threat of nuclear weapons!

Is your money helping to fund nuclear weapons? Maybe you aren’t directly investing in nuclear weapons, but a new report shows that your bank could be. Your bank doesn’t ask where they can put your money, so they use it to invest wherever they please - including in nuclear weapons. But your money and your voice matter. Find out if your financial institution is banking on the bomb, and then act.

PAX and the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), regularly publish a report that details nuclear weapons producers and their investors. Their newest report published in December 2022 finds that there are currently 24 nuclear weapons producers in the world - that is one less than in the last report! The company that is no longer producing nuclear weapons is a massive Indian company called Larsen & Toubro which has been very loud about their change, showing that awareness and public feeling against nuclear weapons is growing.  There are no Canadian producers, but there are producers from some of our allied countries such as the United States, United Kingdom, and France. A full list of countries who produce nuclear weapons can be found in the report.

But what about Canada? Just because we don’t physically produce nuclear weapons, doesn’t mean Canadian financial institutions aren’t investing in nuclear weapons producing companies. Investments in nuclear weapons can do damage. Without the billions of dollars of investments that go towards creating these weapons, they wouldn't be created. And where do these investments come from? It could be your own bank!

In Canada, there are 12 financial institutions which invest in a nuclear weapon producing company. We are the fifth highest investing country with a total of $26,383,000,000 USD in investments - that’s  35,933,118,340 Canadian Dollars going towards the most indiscriminate weapon to ever exist! Shockingly, that is almost 1 million dollars PER Canadian invested in nuclear weapon producing companies. Here is the list of financial institutions that have invested in one or more of the 24 nuclear weapons producing companies:

1. Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) invests in Aerojet Rocketdyne Holdings Inc., Airbus Group, BAE Systems Plc, Boeing, Fluor, General Dynamics, Honeywell International, Harris Technologies, Leidos, Lockheed Martin, and Raytheon Technologies
2. Manulife Financial invests in Airbus Group, and Huntington Ingalls Industries
3. Toronto-Dominion (TD) Bank invests in Airbus Group, BAE Systems Plc, General Dynamics, Honeywell International, Huntington Ingalls Industries, Jacobs Engineering, Harris Technologies, Leidos, Lockheed Martin, and Textron
4. Black Creek Investment Management invests in BAE Systems plc
5. CIBC invests in Bechtel and Honeywell International
6. BMO Financial Group invests in Boeing, Fluor, Jacobs Engineering, Leidos, and Raytheon Technologies
7. Scotiabank invests in General Dynamics, Honeywell International, Huntington Ingalls Industries, Jacobs Engineering, Harris Technologies, Leidos, Northrop Grumman, and Raytheon Technologies
8. Sunlife Financial invests in General Dynamics, Honeywell International, Leidos, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon Technologies, and Safran
9. CI Financial invests in Jacobs Engineering
10. Desjardins Group invests in Jacobs Engineering
11. Fiera Capital invests in Jacobs Engineering
12. Power Financial Corporation invests in Jacobs Engineering, Harris Technologies, Northrop Grumman, and Textron

If your bank is on the list, now is your chance to take direct action against nuclear weapons. Call, write or email your bank and let them know what you think. Speak with customer service, and just let them know you don’t want your money invested in nuclear weapons companies.  Their job is to listen to your concerns. For more tips on how to express your concerns to your bank, visit this page on the Don’t Bank on the Bomb website. Let us know how your call goes by emailing us at [email protected].

With enough calls pouring in, they will reconsider investing your money in places you don’t want it to go. This is already happening - just in the past year 55 new financial institutions divested from nuclear weapons. It is possible for banks and producers to turn away from nuclear weapons. Let’s keep this momentum going – as you have seen above it’s possible for companies to stop producing nuclear weapons! You can help by letting your friends who are from countries where nuclear weapons are produced know that this is happening. They can reach out to their local campaign to abolish nuclear weapons and make some noise!

Your money matters and so does your voice - so let’s use them to abolish nuclear weapons!

In advance of the First Meeting of States Parties of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW), Mines Action Canada is pleased to release a new briefing paper outlining the links between the Treaty and other international agreements.

Complementarity beyond Disarmament and Non-Proliferation details the synergies between the TPNW and other international agreements on human rights, sustainable development and the environment. 

This paper shows that joining and implementing the TPNW will help states meet their obligations under seven other international agreements. Download the paper here.

Mines Action Canada is pleased to release Overwhelmed: Nuclear Weapons and the Health Care System in Ottawa. This report based on the No Place to Hide report from the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) examines the potential impact of a nuclear weapons detonation on the health care system in Canada's capital, Ottawa. 

The title "Overwhelmed" is an accurate description of Ottawa's health care system in the face of a moderate sized (100kt) nuclear detonation. The report estimates that every doctor that survives the initial blast will be responsible for 72 injured patients and Ottawa would be left with 1,764 hospital beds, which would be woefully inadequate to accommodate over 200,000 injured people.

This report is being published one week before Ottawa City Council will vote on a motion to endorse the ICAN Cities Appeal. 

Read the full report here. 

In advance of the First Meeting of States Parties of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, Mines Action Canada and Project Ploughshares hosted a webinar for the Canadian public with Canadian and international experts. Thanks the support from the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, this webinar asked "What's Next for Canada and the Nuclear Ban Treaty?"

The message was clear - Canada should be participating in the Meeting of States Parties as an observer. 

You can watch a recording of the webinar here. 

On August 6th, Program Manager, Erin Hunt, was the keynote speaker at the Hiroshima Nagasaki Day Coalition's online event to mark the 76th anniversary of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. You can read her remarks here or watch the event below.

A large majority of Canadians want the government to join the nuclear ban.  

A new poll released by Nanos Research on 6 April 2021 shows strong support for the nuclear ban among the Canadian public with 74% of respondents expressing support for joining the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW).  

Commissioned by three civil society organizations, Hiroshima Nagasaki Day Coalition, The Simons Foundation Canada and le Collectif Échec à la Guerre, the poll follows an Appeal to Parliament published in the Ottawa Hill Times on January 18 and 20 that was endorsed by over 400 individuals and organizations including Mines Action Canada. Ever since the Treaty’s Entry into Force, more and more voices are questioning the government’s position towards the TPNW. The poll results indicate that only 14% of respondents agreed with the current Government of Canada position towards the treaty. 

Support for the nuclear ban treaty remained high even in the face of potential American pressure. The poll found that about 73% of Canadians agreed that Canada should join Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, "even if, as a member of NATO, it might come under pressure from the United States not to do so.” The Government of Canada has frequently (and incorrectly) said that Canada’s obligations under NATO and the alliance with the United States prevent the country from joining the TPNW. These poll results from Canada are similar to the results from a 2020 poll of six European NATO countries. It seems that Canadians, also, want the government to stand strong and make our own decisions on nuclear weapons. 

Support for a ban is strong amongst all demographic groups with young Canadians, ages 18 to 34, having the highest level of support for the TPNW.  

With young Canadians already facing the existential threat of climate change, it stands to reason that this demographic would also want to end the risk posed by nuclear weapons.  

It is not only government policy towards nuclear weapons that Canadians are concerned about. Canadian financial institutions need to pay attention. The poll also found that 71% of respondents would withdraw money from any investment or financial institution that was investing funds in anything related to the development, manufacturing or deployment of nuclear weapons. The Don’t Bank on the Bomb report has found 16 Canadian financial institutions with investments in nuclear weapons producers. Financial institutions just like governments need to be responsive to public opinion. Canadians do not want to profit off a weapon of mass destruction.  

Released days just after Montreal and White Rock, BC, became the 13th and 14th Canadian cities to join the ICAN City Appeal, this poll is clear evidence that momentum towards the ban treaty is growing in Canada. 

If Canada’s 3 largest cities and ¾ of its citizens support The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, it is time for the Government of Canada to take action. The Canadian government should: 

• Study the TPNW in Parliament, it is a logical topic for the House of Commons and Senate Standing Committees on Foreign Affairs; 
• Send a delegation to participate as an observer in the 1st Meeting of States Parties of the TPNW which must take place within the next year; and 
• Support the positive obligations found in the TPWN with regards to victim assistance and environmental remediation through our international cooperation efforts. 

These steps are necessary for Canada to begin to follow the direction of its people. For too long, Canadian policy towards nuclear weapons has been divorced from the will of the Canadian people. It is time for Canadian leaders to listen to their citizens and join the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.  

Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons Enters into Force

(Ottawa, 22 January 2021) Today Canadians celebrate nuclear weapons finally being prohibited under international law. The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW), also referred to as the nuclear ban treaty, entered into force today; 90 days after Honduras became the 50th state to ratify the Treaty. The Treaty will become legally binding for the 51 countries which have so far ratified it, and represents a major step forward for nuclear disarmament.

Canada has not yet joined the nuclear ban so Canadians from coast to coast are calling on Parliament to consider joining the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.

The TPNW is the first international treaty that comprehensively prohibits nuclear weapons. It includes absolute prohibitions on developing, testing, producing, stockpiling, stationing, transferring, using, and/or threatening the use of nuclear weapons. The Treaty also addresses, for the first time, the impact nuclear weapons activities have had on indigenous communities. Inspired by the Ottawa Treaty banning landmines, this Treaty also includes positive obligations such as the provision of assistance to communities affected by nuclear weapons use and testing around the world. 

For the 51 countries now legally bound by the Treaty all these provisions came ‘into force’ today. As with other treaties, such as the Ottawa Treaty, more countries will become legally bound as they ratify the TPNW.

For governments which are yet to join the Treaty, like Canada, the power of the TPNW comes from the message it sends. Nuclear weapons are now prohibited. When weapons are prohibited, investment in their production declines, they become stigmatized and it becomes easier to eliminate them. 

The TPNW is the result of decades of work by dedicated activists and diplomats around the world. The International Campaign Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) worked tirelessly for this treaty and was awarded the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize for their efforts.

“Despite the global pandemic of 2020, 17 states finished their internal legal work to ratify the Treaty giving the world a shining example of what committed action for a better world, diplomacy and multilateralism can accomplish.

For years the nuclear armed states repeated endlessly that prohibiting nuclear weapons was impossible. Today proves that when we focus on the humanitarian impact of weapons and work collectively it is possible to change the world. 75 years of activism has paid off. Nuclear weapons have always been immoral, now they are illegal.” said Erin Hunt, Program Manager, Mines Action Canada and a member of ICAN’s negotiating team on the TPNW.

Canadians have taken a leadership role in ICAN throughout this process including Japanese Canadian hibakusha or Hiroshima survivor, Setsuko Thurlow who was one of two people to accept the Nobel Prize on behalf of ICAN. A dozen Canadian municipalities have endorsed the TPNW through ICAN’s City Appeal while 27 Members of Parliament and 19 Senators have signed ICAN’s Parliamentary Pledge joining the over 1,000 Canadians who have signed a parliamentary petition in support of the TPNW. Despite the leadership of Canadians, Canada has been slow to join or launch substantial discussion in Parliament regarding the Treaty. Parliament can no longer put off the TPNW.

To celebrate the entry into force, a photo collage of residents in British Columbia and Washington State publicly stating their opposition to further transit of nuclear weapons through the Salish Sea (Juan de Fuca Strait, Georgia Strait and Puget Sound) will be published. Mines Action Canada will also be hosting an Instagram Live with youth activists from British Columbia and Washington State to discuss their nuclear disarmament work.

“Public opinion polls show the public unambiguously supportive of global nuclear disarmament. We know it can be done because Canada led on the international convention which banned antipersonnel landmines. That was one of Canada’s foreign policy initiatives which has had the most significant impact on reducing suffering caused by that weapon on every continent. Prohibition of a weapon comes before its elimination!  Canada lost its opportunity to lead on banning Nuclear Weapons but the opportunity to strengthen this new international instrument is in our hands now. The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons asks a question that Canada needs to answer: will Canada help end nuclear weapons or will Canada wait until nuclear weapons end us?” said Dr. Yeshua Moser-Puangsuwan of Mines Action Canada.

To mark the entry into force of the TPNW, civil society organizations from across Canada have come together to call on Parliament to launch a study on the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. Canadians deserve a public debate about this groundbreaking treaty.

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Background

Negotiated in 2017, the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons legally prohibits, under any circumstances, the development, production, testing, acquisition, stockpiling, transfer, use or threat of use of nuclear weapons. It also requires states party to the treaty to provide assistance to victims of the use and testing of nuclear weapons.

The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons was negotiated and adopted by 122 nations in the United Nations General Assembly. It currently has 86 signatories and 51 ratifications. Canada boycotted the negotiations and remains outside the Treaty to this day. However, Canadian civil society, including Erin Hunt representing Mines Action Canada, played an important role in the negotiations.

Read our new document on myths and reality checks about the TPNW here: https://www.minesactioncanada.org/tpnwmythbusting 

The photo collage of residents in British Columbia and Washington State is available at: https://www.minesactioncanada.org/salishsea_photoaction 

Public opinion polling in six NATO countries shows widespread support for the TPWN: https://www.icanw.org/nato_poll_2021

A global list of Entry into Force activities can be found at: https://www.icanw.org/events.

The ground-breaking Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) enters into force on 22 January 2021. Canada remains outside the TPNW despite the risks nuclear weapons pose to Canadians. No country is equipped to respond to a nuclear detonation whether that detonation is intentional or accidental.

In the absence of a Parliamentary study of the TPNW, a number of myths about the TPNW have been circulating in Canada. These myths inhibit Canada’s ability to meet its stated goals as being a leader on nuclear disarmament and leave us behind as progress is being made towards a world without nuclear weapons.

These Canadian myths about the TPNW need a reality check.

Read the myths and reality checks here.

The UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) just reached the 50 ratifications needed for entry into force! On the 75^th anniversary of the founding of the UN, Honduras ratified the treaty bringing about a historic milestone. In 90 days the TPNW will enter into force and become binding international law!

Mines Action Canada congratulates the 50 states and the dedicated campaigners of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons on making history. Those 50 states are on the right side of history and we hope that Canada will soon join them.

The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons has provisions to mitigate the harm caused by nuclear weapons use and testing that will start being implemented immediately making it a very useful new addition to international law. Canada should support that work in line with our commitment to the SDGs, a Feminist Foreign Policy and the rules based international order and the join the Treaty without delay.

Congratulations to all 50 states for leading the way to a world free of nuclear weapons, and to everybody who was ever involved in making this happen!