A dozen Canadians arrived in New York on March 3 with a message for the Canadian government: sign the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.
The group left Montreal by train to travel to the United Nations for the Third Meeting of States Parties to the treaty, which calls for the comprehensive prohibition of nuclear weapons. States parties are countries that have signed and ratified the treaty.
The group is attending the meeting, held March 3 to 7, at the invitation of Green Party Leader Elizabeth May, member of Parliament for Saanich-Gulf Islands, B.C.
“I’m thrilled to have them come along with me,” said May of the participants from across Canada who travelled on what they called the “Peace Train.” The train is Amtrak’s regularly scheduled train from Montreal to New York.
“We need as many people as possible to spread the message against nuclear war,” she said.
May is at the meeting not as an official representative of Canada but as part of the delegation of parliamentarians who are part of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons. The campaign is a coalition of non-governmental organizations around the world that promote adherence to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.
Canada is not a signatory to the treaty and is not sending an official delegation to the meeting in New York.
To date, 73 countries have signed and ratified the treaty. An additional 25 have signed the treaty and are working toward ratification. Ratification is the formal act of a state agreeing to be bound by a treaty, and generally requires a country to pass legislation to implement it into law.
Canada has not signed the treaty or sent official observers to the meetings in the past, saying it is not practical for today’s security concerns. Canada has also endorsed statements by the military alliance NATO that support the retention and potential use of nuclear weapons on behalf of NATO members.
Worldwide, nine countries are known to possess nuclear weapons. These are the U.S., U.K., Russia, France, China, Pakistan, India, Israel and North Korea.
Collectively, these countries hold about 13,000 weapons. That number is lower than it was during the Cold War, when there were roughly 60,000 weapons worldwide. But the destructive power of existing weapons is immense.
The warheads on a single U.S. nuclear-armed submarine have seven times the destructive power of all the bombs dropped during World War II, including the two atomic bombs dropped on Japan, according to the Union of Concerned Scientists, an American nonprofit.
Russia has the most confirmed nuclear weapons, followed by the U.S.
For May, Canada’s absence at the meeting is unfortunate. These weapons “pose an increasingly existential threat to humanity,” she said.
“We must not sit on the sidelines any longer,” she said. “We need to put nuclear weapons back in Pandora’s box whence they came.”
May’s calls echo a 2020 open letter by former prime ministers, defence ministers, foreign affairs ministers and others for Canada to sign the nuclear prohibition treaty. Signatories included Jean Chrétien, John Turner, Bill Graham, Lloyd Axworthy and John Manley.
For May, it would be far better if nations with nuclear weapons put the money they spend on them into humanitarian assistance.
“We pay for them with money taken from aid,” said May. “If we want world peace, we need to curb military spending, not increase it.”
Some of the people accompanying May on the Peace Train were also passengers on the first Peace Train in November 2024.
On that trip, 40 people travelled by VIA Rail from Vancouver to Ottawa to urge members of Parliament to establish and fund a Centre of Excellence for Peace and Justice that focuses on research, education and conflict resolution training.
The participation of the Peace Train group at the meeting this week is important, May says, since it shows support for the quest to eliminate nuclear weapons.
“It’s been a while since we’ve seen a grassroots peace movement in Canada,” she said.
Before heading to the meeting in New York, May sent a letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau about the need for Canada to be involved in the nuclear prohibition treaty. In the letter, she called on Trudeau to sign the treaty before leaving office.
“Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, China’s threats to Taiwan — these situations show that our world is becoming increasingly unstable,” May wrote. “The threat of nuclear weapons being used once again is becoming more real every day.”
No F’ing way. With Trumps threat to annex Canada, we needed nukes here yesterday. Russia would never have invaded Ukraine if they had nukes. Not that we would use them, but just as a detterent.