Before legislation is passed and treaties are signed, history tells us civil society plays a critical and irreplaceable role in ending war. Labour unions, human rights organizations, faith communities, community organizations, educational institutions, healthcare workers – all play their parts in channelling the political will of a society.
I am here on behalf of both Project Ploughshares – a Canadian peace and arms control research institute – and the Canadian Pugwash Group, which is committed to the abolition of weapons of mass destruction and has a long tradition of “dialogue-across-divides.” Both of these organizations have long supported efforts to develop formal arms control mechanisms for outer space.
Imagine that the international community has just eliminated nuclear weapons. That an auspicious combination of genuine political will, good-faith diplomatic engagement, and effective leadership has resulted in comprehensive and credible multilateral disarmament negotiations that made irreversible nuclear abolition a reality.
“There’s a good display of goodwill and broad engagement. I think there’s points of consensus on what needs to be done. We need to find common understandings of how international laws apply in space,” says Jessica West, a senior researcher at the research institute Project Ploughshares based in Waterloo, Ontario, who’s attending the meeting.
Last month, Global Affairs Canada (GAC) announced that public consultations would be held on the proposed addition of Qatar and North Macedonia to Canada’s Automatic Firearms Country Control List (AFCCL). …
“There is the real threat that the Ukrainian government can potentially not control all of these weapons,” said Kelsey Gallagher, a researcher with Project Ploughshares, a Canadian non-government disarmament group. “They could end up anywhere.”
Established in 1947 as Canadian Aviation Electronics, CAE Inc. has more than 10,000 employees and operates 180 sites and training locations in more than 35 countries. While CAE produces goods for the civilian market, it is also one of Canada’s largest military manufacturers, chiefly producing cockpit simulators and associated equipment that are used in training air crew. As is true of many Canadian defence manufacturers, most of its goods and services are exported and sold on the foreign market.
Last October, the Norwegian Nobel Committee announced that journalists Maria Ressa of the Philippines and Dmitry Muratov of Russia had won the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize “for their efforts to safeguard freedom of expression, which is a precondition for democracy and lasting peace.” To both, Project Ploughshares extends sincere and hearty congratulations!
I started at Project Ploughshares on September 1, 2009. My first role was as Program Associate – a position we now call Researcher – working on the Ploughshares outer space security program.
On November 15, 2021, seven astronauts on the International Space Station (ISS) were ordered to take shelter because of the possibility of catastrophic collisions as the station passed through a cloud of debris. The astronauts remained in lifeboats while the ISS passed through the cloud multiple times.
