ANTI-MILITARISM-OTTAWA:
PROTESTING CANSEC:
It's the bizarre statist equivalent of a farmers' market. CANSEC, Canada's largest military trade show, will be opening this Wednesday on the Ottawa fair grounds. Instead of cauliflower, potatoes and corn the wares on display will be the newest and best ways of slaughtering people. If there was a God this sort of thing would be a prime tornado target. The fair grounds none the less. I am having a vision of a carnival barker yelling out, "Step right up, step right up, bomb the wedding party and win this cute stuffed bear. Three tries for only a million dollars. Step right up now." Yup.
This Dantesque carnival will not, however, be without its opposition. Here's the press release from the Ottawa based Coalition to Oppose the Arms Trade (COAT).
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Please distribute this very widely, thanks!
Ottawa Arms Show will face Show of Peace, Next Wed. May 27!:
CANSEC 2009, Canada's largest military trade show, is not going unnoticed or unchallenged. Next Wednesday, May 27, when two hundred of Canada's top military exporters descend upon Ottawa's fair grounds for their war show, they will face a formidable show of peace.
Activists from dozens of peace and religious groups have been meeting for months to counter the CANSEC arms show. Efforts include preparing for a vote at a City Council Committee on June 2, collecting thousands of names on paper and online petitions, sparking discussions in countless grassroots organizations, provoking newspaper articles, doing radio interviews and churning out detailed reports exposing CANSEC's role in fueling wars.
There will be a day-long VIGIL (starting at 7:30 am) near CANSEC's Bank St. entrance to Lansdowne Park. Between 4:30-6:30 pm (while arms dealers, war fighters, government bureaucrats and foreign military attachés gather for a gala black tie celebration) there will be speakers, poetry and music outside the gates. (Click for details)
Peace RALLY May 27, 7 pm
(followed by Candlelight Vigil):
Join us for a large Peace Rally at 7 pm on the evening of May 27, just across the Bank St. bridge from CANSEC at Southminster United Church (15 Aylmer Ave). The program includes music, poetry and speakers from various faiths: Buddhist, Christian (Catholic, Quaker, United Church), Jewish, Moslem and Unitarian Universalist. Following this indoor peace rally we will have a candlelight procession across the Bank St. bridge to Lansdowne Park. (Click for details)
Honour Ottawa's 20-year Ban on Arms Shows:
CANSEC will be the first arms bazaar held at a City facility in exactly two decades. All such war industry exhibitions were banned by City Council in 1989. Weapons dealers and users can thank unelected City of Ottawa Staff, who claim to have found a convenient legal loophole large enough to drive a battalion of tanks through to get to the arms show at Lansdowne Park! Lansdowne is Ottawa's biggest municipal facility. It resides in a peaceful downtown residential neighbourhood. It will host this country's largest war show despite the 20-year ban that was passed 11 to 1 by City Councillors in 1989. Peace activists intend to stop this from ever happening again. Anti-war activists do not want CANSEC held anywhere. The first step is to remove CANSEC from publicly-funded facilities. Your help is needed to ban Ottawa's arms shows, for good!
CANSEC Exhibitors, Weapons Exports and War:
Canada is the world's 7th largest military exporter and CANSEC is the biggest event in Canada helping to facilitate this international trade in military equipment. Corporations exhibiting at CANSEC manufacture everything from ammunition, automatic weapons, armed battle vehicles, warheads, rockets and missiles, to sophisticated electronic components embedded in virtually all major U.S. weapons systems, such as warplanes, warships and main battle tanks. http://coat.ncf.ca/ARMX/cansec/topCANSEC.htm
In recent years, 90% of the total value of Canada's military exports was sold to 39 countries that had troops engaged in wars and armed conflicts now raging around the world, most notably in Iraq and Afghanistan. These wars, that have claimed the lives of more than a million innocent civilians, are fueled by Canadian military exports and facilitated by CANSEC
CANSEC is run by Canada's top lobby group for military industries. In recent years it has received hundreds of thousands of dollars from the federal government to promote exports and international marketing opportunities for this country's war-related manufacturers. http://coat.ncf.ca/ARMX/cansec/CADSI-DFAIT.htm
Please distribute this widely and link to the URL:
For more information on CANSEC, the campaign exposing it and how you can help, please visit the website of the Coalition to Oppose the Arms Trade (COAT).
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Want more information about Canada's arms trade. Here's another item from COAT.
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CANSEC 2009 Exhibitors and Where they Export:
By Richard Sanders, coordinator,
CLICK HERE for a new DATA TABLE produced by COAT in support of the campaign by various peace and religious groups to oppose CANSEC 2009 in Ottawa. Click here for PEACE EVENTS in Ottawa on May 27.
Ninety percent of the CANSEC 2009 military trade show exhibitors, for which data is available from Industry Canada, report that they do export their products. Of these companies, we have some detailed information on their exports including lists of countries to which these companies are exporting. We also have lists of countries to which CANSEC exhibitors say they are "actively pursuing" exports.
CANSEC 2009 is Canada's largest military industry trade show. It will be held in Ottawa, May 27-28. The corporations exhibiting at CANSEC are among Canada's leading exporters of military products and services. CANSEC is organized by a lobby group representing the vested commercial interests of 700 of Canada’s largest military exporters. In recent years, it has received hundreds of thousands of dollars from the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT). These federal government grants from DFAIT are part of the government's "Program for Export Marketing Development" and were specifically designed to assist this military industry association in its efforts to promote "international trade," and the "international business development activities" of its member corporations. (Read more here.) CANSEC is the main event organized by this military industry association.
The export data in this table comes from an online Industry Canada (IC) source called " Canadian Company Capabilities" (CCC). All of the information in this government database is entered, maintained and updated by the companies themselves.
Of the 216 CANSEC exhibitors, a handful are either government departments, foreign companies or associations. Of the remaining 209 Canadian military-related industries, 178 (i.e., 85% of them) have entries in IC's CCC database. Of these 178 companies, 158 (i.e., just over 90%) report that they do indeed export their products.
Ninety two of the CANSEC exhibitors with entries in the CCC database provide detailed lists of the countries to which they export their products. To view the lists of countries receiving military exports from each of these 92 companies, click on the links called "Export details (list of countries)" in the table below.
Note that many of these CANSEC 2009 exhibitors produce military as well as civilian products.For more information on CANSEC exhibitors and their exports of specific weapons-related products click here.
For more information on Canadian military exports to countries at war, click here.
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