To achieve a core purpose of “reducing human suffering,” the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) sets common global standards for the national control of shipments of conventional weapons across international borders.
On September 17, 2019, Canada became the 105th state party to the global ATT. Project Ploughshares was part of the civil-society push to create this treaty, and has promoted it since.
Project Ploughshares, in partnership with other NGOs, has actively promoted an Arms Trade Treaty since the mid-1990s.
Ploughshares is a member of the Steering Board of the Control Arms Coalition, a group of NGOs promoting the ATT.
Canadian Military Production
Project Ploughshares monitors and reports on Canadian military production and exports.
In support of this work, we maintain the Canadian Military Industry Database which compiles publicly available records of military contracts awarded to Canadian companies as well as annual government records of arms exports to overseas countries.
Reports from the database are made available to a range of researchers and organizations, including the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) for its annual compilation of the world’s largest arms industries.
The database is not available online. Requests for database information should be directed to:
Kelsey Gallagher
+1 519 888-6541
Estimates of charges for database searches or reports will be provided on inquiry.
Recent Publications on the Arms Trade Treaty
Video: Parliamentary testimony on exports to Turkey
April 28, 2021On April 27, 2021, Ploughshares Executive Director Cesar Jaramillo and Researcher Kelsey Gallagher provided testimony to the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development of the Government of Canada. The subject was Granting of Arms Export, with a particular focus on permits granted for exports to Turkey.
Selling military goods to the United States
March 25, 2021The Canadian Commercial Corporation (CCC), an independently operated Crown corporation, arranges contracts between Canadian manufacturers and foreign governments. Between 60 and 70 per cent of these contracts involve military goods, making the CCC Canada’s largest arms broker.
Canada remains silent on illegal Canadian weapons in Libya
November 25, 2020On October 5, under mounting pressure from civil society and the Armenian diaspora community, Global Affairs Canada (GAC) suspended exports of Canadian-made L3Harris WESCAM surveillance and targeting sensors to Turkey. These sensors had been found on Turkish-made Bayraktar TB2 unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs or drones) that were illicitly diverted to Azerbaijan by ally Turkey for use in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.