Project Ploughshares is a Canadian peace research institute with a focus on disarmament efforts and international security, specifically in the areas of the arms trade, emerging military and security technologies, nuclear weapons, and outer space security.
Recent Blog Posts
A Statement on COVID-19
March 18, 2020At Project Ploughshares, we take the global social, economic, and health crisis triggered by the spread of the novel coronavirus COVID-19 very seriously. We are committed to doing our part to minimize its impact on ourselves, our associates, and the broader community.
Clearview AI and the public use of facial-recognition technology
March 10, 2020Police forces were not forthcoming about their use of Clearview AI and facial-recognition technology in general, until a February report revealed that Canada was the largest market for Clearview AI technology outside the United States. The technology seems to have spread quietly, sometimes without the knowledge of those in charge.
Will Canada’s arms sales to Saudi Arabia impact its bid for a UN Security Council seat?
March 4, 2020Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has long wanted to get Canada back on the UN Security Council, where it last had a seat in 2000. For Trudeau, such a return would signal Canada’s “renewed commitment to international peace and security.”
A leadership role on ethical AI is Canada’s to take or lose
February 27, 2020Canada is certainly capable of promoting global norms, with a federal government commitment to fund AI research, an active AI community, and a rapidly developing tech sector. Expert help is available from leading AI researchers in Canadian universities and industries. Research institutes and civil-society groups also have expertise on various applications of AI.
Recent Publications
The Ploughshares Monitor: Spring 2020
March 17, 2020Volume 41 Issue 1 A quarterly publication of Project Ploughshares Please click on attachment to view document:
Q&A: Mining social media for peace
March 17, 2020Evidence from social media is becoming essential to the study of modern conflict. Civilians and combatants are documenting war in real time, providing researchers with contemporary accounts, complete with photos and video.
How Canada can get up to speed on the ban on autonomous weapons
March 16, 2020Disarmament and arms control have not featured prominently, if at all, in mandate letters to Canada’s foreign ministers in many years. But at the end of 2019, Canadian Foreign Minister François-Philippe Champagne was given a new mandate to “advance international efforts to ban the development and use of fully autonomous weapons systems.”
Support Project Ploughshares
Every dollar makes a difference