On Sunday, February 27, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered Russia’s nuclear forces on high alert. In light of these unprovoked escalations in tensions, western governments must consider how to respond to this revived threat of nuclear war.

Petition to the Government of Canada

Whereas:

• The accidental detonation of a single nuclear weapon would be catastrophic;
• Even a limited nuclear war would instantly wipe out millions of people in cities, kill millions more through its radioactive effects over the years and create climate impacts causing worldwide famine;
• These risks have been known for a long time and we have come close to a catastrophe on a number of occasions;
• The New Cold War between, on the one hand, the United States and its allies and, on the other, China and Russia amplifies these risks;
• This nuclear peril to humanity necessitates the complete elimination of nuclear weapons and a commitment by all countries to never produce them again;
• The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW), which complements the 1970 Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), was adopted by 122 countries in 2017 and entered into force in 2021 in response to the endless “pragmatic step by step approach” and deadlocked process of the NPT;
• The United States is pressuring Canada and all NATO members and allies, not to sign the TPNW; and
• Canada is in part accountable for creating and proliferating nuclear weapons, having sold enough uranium to the United States and United Kingdom to make thousands of nuclear bombs.

We, the undersigned, residents of Canada, call upon the Government of Canada to break with NATO’s nuclear policy and immediately sign and commit to ratifying the TPNW.

THIS PETITION CLOSES JUNE 7, 2022 AT 4:30 PM EST

SIGN THE PETITION TODAY