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
Canada’s Commitments to Regulate Firearms
May 20, 2021In September 2019, Canada acceded to the legally binding Arms Trade Treaty, the first international framework to comprehensively control the international trade and transfer of conventional weapons. This positive action ...
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.
Analyzing Canada’s 2019 Exports of Military Goods report
September 28, 2020According to Canada’s 2019 Exports of Military Goods report, last year Canada exported weapons worth almost $4-billion—the highest value on public record. Saudi Arabia, which received 76 per cent of those weapons, is now almost certainly Canada’s prime customer, unseating the United States.