It’s hard to believe, but less than a decade ago, academics, policy analysts, and even officials were exploring US-NATO-Russia cooperation on ballistic missile defence1 – begging the question: why is that no longer considered an appropriate subject for polite company? Missile defence cooperation is still happening, of course, but it’s between Russia and China on one side and among the US and its friends and allies on the other. Unless, however, missile defence is pulled back from its current competitive dynamic to one of east-west accommodation and cooperation, nuclear tensions, and arsenals, will only grow. Canada has joined the competitive fray in Europe through NATO, but, to its credit, continues to resist direct involvement in the strategic North American version of ballistic missile defence.
Le Post & Daniel Ellsberg
Par Pierre Jasmin, artiste pour la paix, membre exécutif des Conférences Pugwash Canada et du Réseau canadien pour l’abolition de l’arme nucléaire
Les premières minutes du film
Film un peu trop prévisible, le Post pourrait avoir été tourné il y a un demi-siècle en noir et blanc (la photo ci-dessus n’en fait pas partie). Est-ce une qualité voulue par le metteur en scène Steven Spielberg, son compositeur John Williams, ainsi que par les deux acteurs chevronnés, Meryl Streep et Tom Hanks, vu que les événements relatés se passent en 1971, au tout début de leurs carrières respectives? Le travail effectué reflète leur expérience éminemment professionnelle et efficace : à une heure de l’après-midi le 12 janvier 2018, premier jour d’affiche, une salle remplie réagissait avec entrain au déroulement scénaristique implacable. Néanmoins, le jury des Golden Globes n’a avec raison accordé aucun des quatre prix majeurs (meilleur film, meilleures réalisation et meilleurs acteurs masculin et féminin) pour lesquels le film était en compétition. On constate aisément que la version originale du film ne contient aucune valeur ajoutée à la version traduite par nos compétents doubleurs québécois, qui s’acquittent de leur tâche sur un pilote moins automatique que leurs collègues-étoiles.
Our WMD treaties are working
ABSTRACT
As new technologies change the face of war, whether and how to pursue arms-control and disarmament treaties is an urgent question. Our past treaties show us that codified commitments can have an influence on state conduct. The author reviews what we can learn from existing agreements on weapons of mass destruction, including the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, the Iran nuclear agreement, and the conventions on biological and chemical weapons. Though in some cases they have had more impact than others, these agreements have been effective in curbing the spread and use of our most devastating weapons.
Read the full article at https://doi.org/10.1080/00963402.2017.1413058 (controlled access)
In 2018, will Canada finally lay out its cyber foreign policy?
Originally published on OpenCanada.org
Eight years after publishing its first cyber strategy, Canada has yet to develop a more comprehensive policy for guiding its cyber-related activities abroad. Paul Meyer looks to a recently released strategy in Australia for inspiration.
CPG Archive, 1998-2014
The table below shows papers, correspondence, reports, and articles by or about Canadian Pugwash Group members. By default, articles are listed by date, but you can choose any other header if you prefer. For example, you could sort by surname instead.
This page will load 60 references at a time. Please click on the navigation link at the bottom of the page to continue further down the table. You can also use the Search box to find an individual author’s name or keyword.
Each title can be clicked to access the full article (or other resource). Most files are in pdf or doc/docx format, with a few in html or ppt/pptx.
About Canadian Pugwash Group
We are the national affiliate of the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs, an international organization, which had its birthplace in Pugwash, Nova Scotia in 1957 and which was awarded the 1995 Nobel Peace Prize together with its founder Sir Joseph Rotblat. The purpose of the Pugwash Conferences is to provide scholarly insights into the prevention and resolution of armed conflict, including nuclear and conventional disarmament, control of the arms trade, the peaceful settlement of disputes and to contribute to solutions for environmental threats to human security.
Education on global security, in a broad sense, is the mandate of the Canadian Pugwash Group, carried out by sponsoring conferences, roundtables and other events to foster informed discussion and to generate ideas and proposals relevant to the formulation of government policy. For example in recent years Canadian Pugwash has organized a conference on “Canada’s Contribution to Global Security” (July 2017) and one on “Towards a World Without Nuclear Weapons” (July 2015), both of which yielded a set of policy recommendations that were conveyed to the Government of Canada for consideration.
Canadian Pugwash Bylaws
On July 2, 2014, the Canadian Pugwash Group received a Certificate of Continuance under the Canada Not-for-Profit Corporations Act (NFP Act). The original incorporation of the organization was July 12, 1990. This followed a period of activity that dated as far back as the Pugwash foundation meeting in 1957.
Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs:
The Russell-Einstein Manifesto of 1955 was a call to action in the campaign to prevent war and to realize nuclear disarmament. 
It was the inspiration behind the establishment in 1957 by the philanthropist Cyrus Eaton of the Pugwash Conferences and the gathering of scientists from East and West at his summer residence in the small seaside village of Pugwash, Nova Scotia (now the National Historic Site of “Thinkers Lodge”). Pugwash members continue to uphold the principles set out in the Russell-Einstein Manifesto.
Nobel Peace Prize
For more than sixty years the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs have been working for the control, reduction and eventual elimination of nuclear weapons. It was in recognition of these efforts that Pugwash, together with its President of the time, Joseph Rotblat, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. In December 2017, Canadian Pugwash was honoured that one of its members, Setsuko Thurlow, a survivor of the Hiroshima atomic bombing, was selected to receive alongside the Executive Director of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) the Nobel Peace Prize for ICAN’s efforts to ensure the negotiation of a Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.
Membership:
The Canadian Pugwash Group has two categories of members: full members who are elected by the current Board of Directors on the basis of a nomination originating with one or more of the current members. New members have made significant contributions in their professional lives to advancing the goals of the Pugwash movement. A category of Associate Members is aimed at individuals at an earlier stage of their careers or those unable to participate on a regular basis with Canadian Pugwash activities, who nevertheless support the principles of the movement and who wish to engage with like-minded colleagues. Associate Members are appointed by the Chair upon consultation with the Board of Directors. All members have access to a dedicated listserv for the sharing of articles and other information relevant to Canadian Pugwash’s mission. Please feel free to contact the Chair or Vice-Chair for information about becoming associated with Canadian Pugwash.
Please use the menu to explore our website and to find out about current peace and security issues and initiatives involving Canadian Pugwash members.
Unless specified otherwise, articles on this website are the views of the individual author(s) only.
Good News Service #53: November 2017
- Witness to History: Pope’s rejection of nukes a milestone, says ex-Senator Douglas Roche
- Can Canada make a meaningful return to UN Peacekeeping?
- Chris Hadfield continues his description of good news stories. Here are nine more of them
- The Danes head the World Happiness Report, twice! Sicilians, too, are happy for more sensual reasons
- For the birds: about Warblers, Hawks, Eagles and Ravens: perhaps they are smarter than we think!
- Say “Yes!”
- Using fun (part 1: cartoons)
- Using fun (part 2: circuses)
- Polio and Malaria Programming in Borno, Nigeria
- Climate Smart Agriculture
Download the full issue here (docx)
Les Conférences Pugwash Canada
Le But
Le but des conférences Pugwash est de fournir des idées savantes sur les questions suivantes:
- L’abolition nucléaire et le contrôle des armes nucléaires
- Le contrôle des armes et le désarmement
- La prévention des conflits armés et le maintien de la paix
- L’élimination des armes chimiques et biologiques
- Le droit international
- Le développement durable et l’éthique scientifique
Activités
Pugwash Canada organise des séminaires et des ateliers, avec des orateurs distingués et des tables rondes pour promouvoir des discussions informées entre experts. Notre but est d’éduquer et de générer des idées qui peuvent être utiles dans la formation de la politique gouvernementale, et pour exécuter des changements qui promeuvent la paix globale et la sécurité.
Par exemple:
- Trois panneaux au TNP PrepCom 2014 de l’ONU: “Arctique essentiel: Une zone exempte d’armes nucléaires”, “l’OTAN et le TNP”, et “Nouvelles idées et initiatives”
- Du 5 au 8 mai 2014, ONU, New York. “Vers un Moyen-Orient sans armes nucléaires”
- Un atelier expert sur “Les impératifs politiques pour une zone arctique exempte d’armes
nucléaires.” Le 27 octobre 2012, à Ottawa. - Un atelier de prévoyance stratégique sur “Un monde sans armes nucléaires”, du 16 au 18
août 2012, à Pugwash en Nouvelle-Écosse.
“Il faut que je vous informe d’une réalité terrifiante: avec le développement des armes nucléaires, l’homme a acquis, pour la première fois dans l’histoire, le moyen technique de détruire toute la civilisation en une seule action.”
-Sir Joseph Rotblat
“On lance un appel, en tant qu’êtres humains, aux humains: souvenez-vous de votre humanité, et oubliez le reste. Si vous pouvez le faire, le chemin s’ouvre à un nouveau paradis; sinon, vous laissez la porte ouverte au risque d’une mort universelle.”
-Le manifeste Russell-Einstein, 1955
Programmes en cours
(1) Canadiens pour une conférence sur les armes nucléaires: dirigés par les membres de l’Ordre du Canada John Polanyi, Murray Thomson, Douglas Roche et Ernie Regehr, des centaines de membres de l’Ordre exigent des négociations internationales pour atteindre un traité vérifiable sur l’interdiction et l’élimination des armes nucléaires
(2) Une zone arctique exempte d’armes-nucléaires: une campagne pour les pays arctiques en vue d’engager un processus menant à un traité international. C’EST LE MOMENT!
(3) Projet sur les affaires globales: facteurs essentiels pour la durabilité de la civilisation
Étudiants canadiens/Pugwash pour la jeunesse
Étudiants Canadiens /Pugwash pour la jeunesse est l’organisation nationale Pugwash pour les jeunes canadiens. C’est aussi l’affiliation nationale du réseau international Pugwash pour la jeunesse. Elle a publié des revues à l’occasion. Contactez la Professeure Erika Simpson, à l’Université de Western Ontario,
Collaboration responsable entre savants en vue de saisir l’humanité des menaces à son existence:
Nous suscitons des expertises sur les questions importantes suivantes:
- abolition des armes nucléaires et non-prolifération nucléaire
- désarmement et armes de destruction massive
- changement climatique
- justice sociale
- abolition de la guerre et maintien de la paix
- utilisation pacifique de l’espace
- zones de conflit
Canadian Pugwash Group / Les Conférences Pugwash Canada
56 Douglas Drive
Toronto ON
M4W 2B3
Good News Service #52: Early Fall 2017
- ICAN is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, 2017
- Amalgamated is the first North American bank to announce a public position against nuclear weapons
- Partnering with China seen as the likeliest resolution of conflict with North Korea
- Canadian Pugwash commemorates Canada’s 150th Anniversary with major proposals for action…
- Chris Hadfield, first Canadian to command an International Space Station, selected 45 good news stories from 2016.
Here are 19 of them:
5.1 The Colombian government and FARC rebels committed to a lasting peace, ending a war that killed or displaced over 7 million people.
5.2 Sri Lanka spent five years working to exile the world’s deadliest disease from their borders. As of the end of 2016 they were malaria free.
5.3 Malawi lowered its HIV rate by 67%, and in the past decade has seen a shift in public health that saved over 250,000 lives.
5.4 Measles has been eradicated from the Americas. A 22 year vaccination campaign led to the eradication of the historic virus.
5.5 After a century, Einstein’s theory of gravitational waves has been proven correct, in a “moon shot” scientific achievement.
5.6 A solar powered airplane flew across the Pacific Ocean for the first time, highlighting a new era of energy possibilities.
5.7 China has announced a firm date for the end of the ivory trade, as public opinion is becoming more staunchly environmentalist.
5.8 The ozone layer has shown that through tackling a problem head on, the world can stem environmental disasters, together.
5.9 Costa Rica’s entire electrical grid ran on renewable energy for over half the year, and their capacity continues to grow.
5.10 a new treatment for melanoma has seen a 40% survival rate, taking a huge step forward towards long-term cancer survivability.
5.11 British Columbia protected 85 of the world’s largest temperate rainforests in a landmark environmental agreement.
5.12 2016 saw the designation of more than 40 new marine sanctuaries, covering an area larger than the United States.
5.13 These marine reserves include Malaysia’s 13 year struggle to complete a million hectare park, completed in 2016.
5.14 This also includes the largest marine Reserve in history, created in Antarctica via an unprecedented agreement by 24 nations.
5.15 Atmospheric acid pollution, once a gloomy reality, has been tackled to the point of being almost back to pre-industrial levels.
5.16 Major diseases are in decline. The US saw a 50% mortality drop in colon cancer which created a precedent for small countries looking to introduce health-focused legislation.
5.17 World hunger has reached its lowest level in 25 years, and with poverty levels dropping worldwide seems likely to continue.
5.18 The African Union made strides to become more unified, launching an all-Africa passport meant to allow for visa-free travel for all citizens.
5.19 Fossil fuels emissions flatlined in 2016, with the Paris Agreement becoming the fastest UN treaty to become international law. - China contributes US$34 million to WFP for Emergency Food Assistance in six countries
- CANADEM: Canada’s Civilian Response Corps
Download the full issue here (docx)
Contact CPG
Contact CPG by mail:
Canadian Pugwash Group
c/o John Marshall (Treasurer)
12 Indian Grove
Toronto ON M6R 2Y2
www.pugwashgroup.ca
By email: info[at]pugwashgroup.ca
Current Directors, Chairs, and Officers
See Who We Are –> Board member biographies
Past Chairs
- Paul Meyer, Vancouver, British Columbia
- Prof. David Harries, Kingston, Ontario
- Prof. Walter Dorn, Toronto, Ontario
- Dr. Adele Buckley,Toronto, Ontario [deceased]
- Honourable Douglas Roche, O.C., Edmonton, Alberta [official website]
- MGen (Ret) L.V. Johnson, L.L.D., Westport, [deceased]
- Dr. William Epstein, Q.C., O.C., [deceased]
- Prof. John C. Polanyi, P.C., C.C., Founding Chair
Past Directors
- Dr. Theodora Carroll, Squamish, British Columbia
- Phyllis Creighton, Toronto, Ontario [deceased]
- Prof. Terrell Gardner, Toronto, Ontario [deceased]
- Ann Gertler, Montréal, Québec [deceased]
- Dr. David Harries, Kingston, Ontario
- Alexa McDonough, O.C. , Halifax, Nova Scotia [deceased]
- Prof. (em) Peter Meincke, Manotick, Ontario
- Prof. (em) Derek Paul, Montréal, Québec
- Ernie Regehr, O.C., Waterloo, Ontario
- Prof (em) Elizabeth Riddell-Dixon, London, Ontario
- Steve Staples, Ottawa, Ontario
- Murray Thomson, O.C., Ottawa, Ontario [deceased]
- Peter Walker, Wolfville, Nova Scotia