DISARMAMENT — ———-

The peace movement in Canada took a Major step towards the formation of a country-wide peace coalition following a weekend meeting in Vancouver of peace and disarmament groups from across the country.

Some 36 organizations from New- foundland to Vancouver Island took part In the meeting, hosted by British Colum- bia’s End the Arms Race coalition, and agreed to hold a national planning confer- €nce in Ottawa in June followed by 4 founding convention Nov. 8-10in Toronto.

EAR co-ordinator Colleen Bostwick Said Sunday that the meeting had set itself the objective of “‘setting up the mechanism by which some form of country-wide alliance or coalition could be established.

“We met that goal with flying colors,” She said, emphasizing that there was a unanimity of purpose among the groups Participating which included EAR, the Toronto Disarmament Network, Cana- dian Peace Congress, Operation Disman- tle, Greenpeace, Voice of Women, the Conseil de la Paix and others. “It’s very

Canadian peace coalition closer

positive that we’ve come so far in two days towards something we’ve talked about for three years.

“The peace movement has been made up of dozens of groups across the country but it has never before been knit into a national fabric,” she said.

The weekend meeting set up a national organizing committee which will consist of six representatives from five regions — one each from B.C., the Prairies, Ontario and the Maritimes as well as two from Quebec — together with one representa- tive each from four organizations, Opera- tion Dismantle, Canadian Peace Congress, Greenpeace and Voice of Women. A member of EAR will represent B.C. on the committee.

The organizing committee will be responsible for conducting the meeting in Ottawa, June 14-16, as well as the conven- tion in November.

Bostwick emphasized that it would be the planning meeting and the convention that would establish the purpose and prin- ciples of any country-wide coalition.

But the meeting on the weekend laid out four immediate purposes for country-wide organization, including establishing a network of peace activists, sharing infor- mation among groups, providing a forum for the discussion of national peace issues and providing new opportunities for actions among the various groups that now exist.

“It’s a crucial step for the peace move- ment in Canada,” said Bob Penner, who represented the Toronto Disarmament Network at the meeting. “The most signif- icant. part will be in increasing the impact of the peace movement on government policies.

Penner emphasized “contrary to some opinion, the peace movement is in good shape across the. country and is very strong. We may not have changed government policy but we have forced the government to listen to us.

“This step will help in making the peace movement too powerful to ignore,” he said.

Rally protests defence pact signing

“We are opposed to becoming puppets and our country a staging ground in the US. plans for war,” Vancouver alderman Libby Davies told a rally at Vancouver city

hall Mar. 16 called to protest the “shamrock _

Summit” between U.S. President Ronald

Reagan and Prime Minister Brian Mulro- Ney.

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“Reagan is coming to this summit to con- firm the Canadian role in Star Wars,” emphasized Gordon Flowers, national secretary of the Canadian Peace Congress. “The North Warning Agreement that will be signed in Quebec City tomorrow is a first step to major militarization of the Canadian north,” he told the crowd of some 200 at the rally sponsored by. the Vancouver Peace Assembly.

After the rally, protesters marched from city hall to the Progressive Conservative Party headquarters on West Broadway to deliver a letter to prime minister Mulroney. The letter demanded guarantees to ensure that the Canadian government “does not become a party to the North Warning Agreement.

“At this crucial hour, as the U.S. and the USSR meet in Geneva to attempt to nego- tiate an end to the arms race, the Canadian government must choose a foreign policy that will promote peace in this troubled world,” the letter said.

Flowers told: the rally that “‘over $500 billion will be needed to complete the Star Wars program.”

He charged that the program is neither a defence nor a research program but “part of

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a nuclear first-strike strategy, and the North Warning System is an important part of that strategy.”

Defence Minister Erik Neilsen has refused to reveal the exact terms of the North Warning Agreement or even to pro- vide Parliament with a copy of the agree- ment. But Canada has agreed to be responsible for 40 per cent of the costs of refurbishing the 52 radar posts to be sta- tioned across the Arctic coastline.

“We are outraged at the costs of this proposed modernization of the Distant Early Warning (DEW) line,” said Davies. “The $700 million this project will cost the Canadian people could be used in the development of programs for human needs.”

Arnie Thomlinson, chairman of the Van- couver Peace Assembly urged demonstrat- ers to sign a petition repeating the demands set out in the letter delivered to Tory head- quarters. The petition was set to be deli- vered to the Reagan-Mulroney meeting in Quebec City on Monday Mar. 18.

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