CBRM Proclaims August 6 ‘Hiroshima Memorial Day’ – Council Marks Ten Years as Member of Mayors for Peace
Peace Quest Cape Breton Commends Mayor and Council for Continuing Commitment to Goal of ‘Global Zero’
On July 20, responding to a request by Peace Quest Cape Breton (PQCB), the Cape Breton Regional Municipality (CBRM) unanimously adopted a Proclamation declaring Sunday August 6th, 2023, as ‘Hiroshima Memorial Day’, a day to “remember the devastation visited” on Hiroshima and Nagasaki 78 years ago – the atomic annihilation of hundreds of thousands of civilians, with catastrophic intergenerational consequences – and “to renew our commitment to ensuring freedom from the intolerable threat to civilization and existence posed by nuclear weapons.”
The Proclamation, introduced by Deputy Mayor James Edwards, places the historic tragedy of Hiroshima in the context of Russia’s “illegal and atrocious” war in Ukraine, arguing that President Putin’s “relentless threats to use nuclear weapons” once again “expose the lie that nuclear weapons deter conventional war”. After a string of criminal wars of choice by nuclear-armed states since 1945, with nuclear dangers rising fast in many regions, and with today’s “13,000 nuclear weapons, possessed by nine states, equal in their destructive power to hundreds of thousands of Hiroshimas,” CBRM recognizes that the international community confronts a stark choice: nuclear disaster or nuclear disarmament.
The goal of ‘Global Zero’ – a nuclear-weapon-free world – was set in the very first UN General Assembly resolution (January 1946), and has been reaffirmed countless times since. In July 2017, tired of the broken promises of the nuclear-armed states and their apologists, 122 states adopted the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW), which entered into force in January 2021. As in previous years, CBRM’s new Proclamation calls on one of those apologists in particular – Canada – “to sign and ratify the TPNW, recognizing the Treaty as the best path to a world free from the fear of nuclear annihilation.”
As the Proclamation also notes, “ten years ago, in July 2013, the Cape Breton Regional Municipality joined the global Mayors for Peace network, based in Hiroshima, which now has 8,265 members from 166 countries, including 113 municipalities in Canada”. Mayors for Peace played an important role in the campaign for a treaty outlawing nuclear weapons, and is now one of the TPNW’s most prominent and influential champions.
Welcoming the Proclamation, PQCB Campaign Coordinator Sean Howard stated: “All levels of government have a moral obligation to take a stand against the nuclear menace. We applaud CBRM – under the leadership of Mayors Cecil Clarke and Amanda McDougall-Merrill – for being part of the Mayors for Peace community, for standing in solidarity with the survivors of the atomic bombings, and for annually pledging with them: no more Hiroshimas, no new Nagasakis!”
Full Text of Cape Breton Regional Municipality
Hiroshima Memorial Day Proclamation
Unanimously adopted, July 20, 2023
Hiroshima Memorial Day – August 6th, 2023
WHEREAS: August 6th, 2023, marks the 78th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, followed three days later by the atomic bombing of Nagasaki;
AND WHEREAS: Hundreds of thousands of civilians died in these attacks and tens of thousands more have suffered and are suffering from the wounds, radiation sickness and multigenerational genetic disorders and traumas triggered by the explosions;
AND WHEREAS: Today’s 13,000 nuclear weapons, possessed by nine states, are equal in their destructive power to hundreds of thousands of Hiroshimas;
AND WHEREAS: Recent scientific studies confirm that even a so-called ‘limited’ nuclear war would, in addition to killing millions in minutes, cause a global famine and massive damage to the global environment and climate;
AND WHEREAS: President Vladimir Putin’s illegal and atrocious war on Ukraine, and his relentless threats to use nuclear weapons, expose the lie that nuclear weapons deter conventional war and help preserve international peace and security;
AND WHEREAS: Ten years ago, in July 2013, the Cape Breton Regional Municipality joined the global Mayors for Peace network, based in Hiroshima, which now has 8,265 members from 166 countries, including 113 municipalities in Canada;
AND WHEREAS: The Cape Breton Regional Municipality once again supports the call of Mayors for Peace for all states, including Canada, to sign and ratify the 2017 UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW), recognizing the Treaty as the best path to a world free from the fear of nuclear annihilation;
BE IT THEREFORE RESOLVED: That CBRM Mayor Amanda C. McDougall-Merrill
and Council proclaim August 6th, 2023, as “Hiroshima Memorial Day” here in the Cape Breton Regional Municipality. A day to remember the devastation of Hiroshima in 1945, and to renew our commitment to ensuring freedom from the intolerable threat to civilization and existence posed by nuclear weapons.
