PEACE QUEST CAPE BRETON LAUNCHES CAMPAIGN FOR A CITIZENS’ ASSEMBLY ON NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT

On September 21 – UN International Day of Peace – Peace Quest Cape Breton publicly launched its campaign for parliament to convene the world’s first Citizens’ Assembly on Nuclear Disarmament, empowered to make recommendations on Canada’s strategy and policies for achieving a Nuclear-Weapon-Free World. As part of the launch, and in the hope of sparking a national conversation, PQCB released a ‘Model’ – building on a Concept Paper released in August – of how such an Assembly might be structured and function.  

At a well-attended event at Cape Breton University (CBU) – co-sponsored by CBU’s Global Social Justice Project – PQCB Campaign Coordinator Sean Howard provided a ‘pencil sketch’ of the proposal and thanked those groups and individuals who have already endorsed the idea, including Hiroshima-survivor and Canadian citizen Setsuko Thurlow, recipient of the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN). Noting that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has consistently refused Setsuko’s requests for a meeting, Sean asked: “What is he afraid of hearing; feeling; realizing? Shame on you, Prime Minister – but we thank you, too, for your unconscionable rebuff of a Hiroshima survivor only helps us make our case for a citizen intervention in the bad nuclear behaviour of the state.”

Sean’s presentation gave the last words to Setsuko, who told an ICAN meeting in Vienna in June that “there are voices in the Canadian peace movement calling for a ‘Citizens’ Assembly on Nuclear Disarmament,’ empowered to make policy recommendations to parliament. Such an Assembly would hear from all sides of the issue – including from my side, as a survivor. No such experiment has ever been attempted before, and I believe it is an idea worth carefully exploring, not just in Canada but every country that claims the ‘right’ to possess or rely on these heinous weapons of genocidal destruction.”

The launch event also heard from PQCB’s Youth Coordinator, Bhreagh McKinnon, who announced the establishment of a Peace Quest Student Society at CBU.

For the full text of Sean’s presentation, see HERE.

To read our Model Assembly, see HERE.

For more information, please contact Sean at sean@peacequerstcapebreton.ca.