Nuclear Disarmament: 50 Years of Research and Action
For nearly five decades, Project Ploughshares has worked to eliminate the threat of nuclear weapons.
Through rigorous research, public education, and persistent advocacy — in Canada and around the world — we’ve helped shape policy, empower communities, and advance international law.
This timeline highlights just a few of the many milestones in our long-standing commitment to world free from the threat of nuclear annihilation.
1976
Project Ploughshares is Founded
Created — by Ernie Regehr and Murray Thomson — to respond to the global arms trade, Ploughshares quickly begins shaping public and policy discourse on the urgent threat of nuclear weapons, a focus that continues to this day.
1978
Grassroots Movement Begins
Ahead of the UN’s first Special Session on Disarmament (SSOD I), Ploughshares tours Canada, sparking the creation of local groups focused on nuclear issues.
1978
Ploughshares Goes Global
Ploughshares participates in SSOD I in New York, launching decades of engagement in international disarmament diplomacy.
UN Photo/Yutaka Nagata
1980
Beginnings of Advocacy
One of the first major topics in The Ploughshares Monitor — a piece on the “nuclear Pacific” — marks the launch of a long-standing publishing legacy on nuclear disarmament.
1981
Global Solidarity in Amsterdam
Ploughshares joins over 500,000 people in a mass anti-nuclear march in the Netherlands — one of many public mobilizations Ploughshares supports across Europe and North America.
1982
Educating Through Film
Ploughshares begins a years-long national tour with the Oscar-winning anti-nuclear film If You Love This Planet, sparking dialogue in communities across Canada.
1983
Landmark Publication: Canada and the Nuclear Arms Race
Co-edited by Ploughshares Director Ernie Regehr, with a foreword by avid supporter Margaret Laurence, this influential book challenges Canada’s complicity in the nuclear order and becomes a key tool in public and parliamentary debate.
Mid-1980s
Protesting the Arms Race
Ploughshares supports the national “Refuse the Cruise” campaign opposing U.S. cruise missile testing in Canada — providing trusted analysis and mobilizing civil society action.
1986
Exposing Canadian Complicity
A ground-breaking Monitor article reveals Canadian companies are building components for nuclear weapons — a uniquely Ploughshares investigation that triggers new scrutiny and debate.
1987
Promoting a Nuclear-Free Canada
Ploughshares supports calls for Canada to become a nuclear-weapon-free zone, providing research, policy proposals, and public education resources.
1991
Anti-Nuclear War Fund Launches
Created by Alan and Joy Phillips and administered by Ploughshares, this innovative fund supports grassroots disarmament projects like the World Court Project, empowering global legal activism.
1995-1998
Cross-Country Roundtables
Former UN Ambassador Douglas Roche and Ploughshares lead national education tours, publishing influential reports that push Canada’s role in global abolition efforts.
1996
Victory at the World Court
As a key sponsor of the World Court Project, Ploughshares helps secure an historic opinion from the International Court of Justice: the threat or use of nuclear weapons is generally illegal under international law — a landmark win for global norms.
1998
Landmark Parliamentary Study
Following national roundtables and direct meetings with Canada’s Foreign Minister Lloyd Axworthy, Ploughshares and former UN Ambassador Douglas Roche help prompt a formal Parliamentary study on nuclear disarmament — still considered a reference point in Canadian policy.
UPI Photo
1990s-2000
Inside the NPT Process
Ploughshares Director Ernie Regehr serves regularly as an NGO advisor on Canadian delegations to Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conferences and Preparatory Committee meetings.
2001-2007
Challenging NATO Nuclear Policy
A series of working papers critiques NATO’s reliance on nuclear weapons and outlines actionable steps Canada can take toward disarmament leadership.
Link to Working Paper October 2002 by Bill Robinson
Link to Working Paper April 2005 Ernie Regehr
2002-2012
NPT Accountability Reports
Through detailed tracking of Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) meetings, Ploughshares exposes backsliding and pressures states to uphold their disarmament commitments — a vital watchdog role.
2014-2015
Remembering Hiroshima
Ploughshares amplifies survivor testimony and moral leadership, including Executive Director Cesar Jaramillo’s Hiroshima Day keynote and a commemorative visit to Japan — deepening ties and advocacy impact.
2017
ICAN awarded Nobel Prize
As a proud member of ICAN, Ploughshares contributed to years of research and advocacy that helps secure the landmark Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) in 2017. That same year ICAN is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Ploughshares staff attend the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony with Hiroshima survivor Setsuko Thurlow.
2021-2024
TPNW and Canadian Action
Ploughshares co-hosts a national seminar on the TPNW, publishes expert primers, signs the Ottawa Declaration, and pushes for Canadian accession — catalyzing new conversations in government and civil society.
2022
Disarmament Workshop Series
During the pandemic, Ploughshares runs a three-part virtual series engaging hundreds of Canadians in nuclear disarmament education and action.
2024
Five-Point Disarmament Agenda
Following an expert roundtable, Ploughshares publishes a bold, actionable agenda for Canadian leadership on disarmament — widely cited by advocates and decision-makers.
2025
80th Anniversary of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Ploughshares marks this solemn anniversary by amplifying survivor voices and renewing its call for a world free of nuclear weapons — reminding us that memory demands action.
