ICAN Launched in Ottawa, Canada
ICAN has been successfully launched on Parliament Hill, Ottawa, co-hosted by the Parliamentary Network for Nuclear Disarmament (PNND) which has over 500 members from 70 countries, all of whom must be active parliamentarians in order to belong. Canada has sixty-one members.
The event brought together about fifty people, including ten Parliamentarians, several staff from other Parliamentarians' offices, twelve doctors, seven medical students and several civil society leaders.
Mrs Setsuko Thurlow, a Hiroshima bomb survivor and tireless advocate for nuclear disarmament, touched the audience with her heart-rending stories and was honoured the next day by receiving the Order of Canada.
Setsuko Thurlow speaking at the ICAN launch. (Photo: Debbie Grisdale)
Alyn Ware, Global Coordinator of PNND introduced his new book - Securing our Survival - the Case For a Nuclear Weapons Convention.
Parliamentarians present were Alexa McDonough (NDP and chair of PNND), Jack Layton (NDP), Irene Mathyssen (NDP), Bill Siksay (NDP), Paul Dewar (NDP), Lloyd St. Amand (Lib), Ken Boshcoff (Lib), Irwin Cotler (Lib), Maria Minna (Lib), Larry Bagnell (Lib).
In summing up the event Alexa McDonough, quoting from Kim Campbell, former Canadian Prime Minister said:
"Working for nuclear disarmament is not a right/left issue, it is a smart/dumb issue."
To check to see if your Parliamentarian is on the list, go to:
www.middlepowers.org/pnnd/index.html.
If on the list, do congratulate him/her, and if not on the list, invite your MP to join. Our support for those politicians working for nuclear disarmament is appreciated.
For more see: the Canadian Medical Association Journal.
For Canada's ICAN demands see here (Word document).
