Dear Mayor O'Brien,
Since we launched our petition to "Stop Ottawa Arms Shows" six days ago, only
about 500 people have signed. (View
the signers and all their insightful comments here.) Being summer, it's
been very slow getting this campaign started. Most people have been away. We are
sure that many more people will join our campaign in September, once Canada's
major holiday season is really over.
As Canadians, we like to think of our nation as one which does not promote war,
violent regime changes or military aggression as a means of acquiring access to
lucrative global resources. We see ourselves as proponents of peace and
cooperation, not immoral war profiteering. By hosting trade bazaars associated
with the international weapons trade, the City of Ottawa will help to expose the
myth of Canada's supposedly benevolent role as a global force for peace.
In 1989, Ottawa's City Council passed a nearly-unanimous Motion (11-1) that
condemned the international arms trade and banned all military trade shows, such
as ARMX, from Ottawa City facilities, including Lansdowne Park. (Read
the Motion here.)
This Motion has been respected by the City for almost 20 years.
As a result of this well-publicised initiative, the City of Ottawa garnered
much respect not only from its own citizenry but from people all across Canada.
The City of Ottawa should now continue to honour the commitment made by Council
in 1989 to ban war-related trade shows from municipal property. To do this, the
City should immediately cancel its contract with "Secure Canada 2008," which is
scheduled for this September 30-October 1. The contract which "Secure Canada
2008" has with exhibitors protects it from any lawsuits if the show is cancelled
for any reason by the City. I would presume that the City's own contract with
"Secure Canada 2008" has similar clauses to protect it.
Next year's "CANSEC 2009" should also be stopped from taking place at Ottawa's
Lansdowne Park facility. It is an even bigger military trade show than "Secure
Canada 2008." Likewise, all other such manifestations of the international arms
trade should remain banned from municipal property.
"Secure Canada 2008," which will showcase a who's-who list of corporations and
business associations known for their complicity in the manufacture and sale of
some of the most destructive, major weapons systems ever made, is dominated by
the U.S. military-industrial complex. Such manifestations of the international
arms trade have inarguably facilitated the waging of unjust wars that have
ravaged cities around the world and caused the deaths of literally millions of
innocent civilians.
Are these the kind of sordid events that you and City Council now want to be
seen as promoting?
Why is the City of Ottawa sponsoring this military trade show? Not only is the
City planning to host this event at Lansdowne -- the crown jewel of our
municipal facilities -- the City of Ottawa is actually listed as one of the
show's "sponsors."
See for yourself. The
City logo is on the front page of the "Secure Canada 2008" website, under
sponsors!
Ottawa City staff have tried to explain away their decision by saying that
"Secure Canada 2008" is not an arms exhibition. They are wrong.
Read more about that here.
You should also familiarize yourself with the companies that are planning to
exhibit their wares at "Secure Canada 2008."
Read over the annotated list of
exhibitors. In particular, please look over the information that I've put
together there on the many manufacturers of major weapons systems that are
planning to attend. A few weeks ago I wrote an article called: ""The Role of
'Secure Canada 2008' Exhibitors in America's Major Defense Acquisition
Programs." I found that about 25% of the known "Secure Canada 2008" exhibitors
are engaged as key suppliers for America's top "major weapons systems." (Read
that article here.) On our website, COAT has also been running a feature
called the "'Secure Canada 2008' Official Weapon System of the Week!" (Check
that out for some of the most egregious examples of weapons systems that are
sold by exhibitors.
So, make no mistake. Contrary to City Staff's assurances, this IS an "arms
exhibition." I've been studying Canadian involvement in the international arms
trade for 25 years and I can assure you that "Secure Canada 2008" is a fine
example of this category of events.
War is widely perceived as a scourge upon humanity. And, besides the drug trade,
the slave trade and human trafficking, the shameful business of profiteering
from the trade in war-related technology is commonly considered to be one of the
most reprehensible endeavours of mankind.
Should you and Council choose to go back on the commitment made in 1989 to ban
such war-merchandising events, you can reasonably expect that this decision will
not be a popular one. If these shows go ahead without prohibition from the City,
people from across this City, in every Ward, from countless grass-roots
organizations including religious groups and labour unions, associations of
seniors and students, women's groups, immigrants, community associations and
organizations devoted to human rights, peace and Third World development, will
come to learn where you and each Council member stands on this issue. Those on
Council who are seen to support the international trade in war materials will no
doubt be held to account during upcoming campaigns for re-election.
Ottawa's citizenry will not be pleased to learn that a large array of companies
providing equipment and services now being used to wage war in places such as
Iraq, are being subsidized by Ottawa taxpayers through the hosting of military
trade bazaars at municipal facilities. These facilities are mandated by law to
make a priority of serving the interests of the general public. However, during
these private, arms-industry trade events, they are completely off-limits and
closed to any public participation.
Neither will Ottawa taxpayers be happy to learn that they are expected to pay
for the extra security that the promoters of these arms bazaars want for their
exclusive events. If those who profit from war-related businesses feel that they
need to protect themselves from peaceful protesters, then let them pay for this
themselves. It will strike many citizens as incredibly ironic that "arms
dealers" and "merchants of death," those who are supposedly responsible for our
"national security" and "public safety," feel so insecure and unsafe that they
need to hide from the public inside closed-door events like "Secure Canada 2008"
and "CANSEC 2009." What they really fear most is public exposure.
Many Ottawa taxpayers will resent the notion that they are expected to cover the
costs of protecting the perceived security needs of those who flog a wide array
of products and services for use by institutions whose business it is to wage
war. This is especially ridiculous since the attention of our police forces and
intelligence services will be focused entirely upon protecting those who are
actually engaged in facilitating the trade in technologies used to perpetrate
violence and oppression. What is our crime? We are merely citizens who want to
exercise our right to freely assemble and speak out against the use of
state-sponsored violence.
Canadian police should be tasked to investigate the violation of major crimes
against humanity and peace committed by the institutions that wage war and the
corporations that equip them. But instead, our taxes will pay our police to
restrict those of us who only wish to expose and oppose wars, regime changes and
repressive paramilitary tactics used to intimidate and control fellow citizens
of the world. What's worse we, as always, will have to be vigilant to ensure
that police and/or intelligence agents provocateurs do not infiltrate our
protests in their efforts to make us appear to be violent, as we all know
happened in Montebello.
When the City of Ottawa took a stand against the arms trade in 1989, it made it
clear "that Lansdowne Park and other city facilities not be leased to ARMX or
other such arms exhibitions.? If City Council now stands by the historic
decision, and reverses the unfortunate actions taken by staff to allow these
arms trade events to return to City property, then Ottawa's politicians will
earn the respect of citizens throughout Ottawa and across Canada.
For almost twenty years now, City of Ottawa facilities have been free of
military trade shows. Let's keep it that way. City Staff should be instructed to
inform organizers of the scheduled arms shows that their events are still not
welcome on municipal property.
Yours sincerely,
Richard Sanders,
Coalition to Oppose the Arms Trade (COAT)
Editor, Press for Conversion!