VANCOUVER, Canada —
Twenty Canadian church leaders from the country’s major
denominations have written to Prime Minister Paul Martin urging
that Canada abandon any plans to join with the United States in
its Ballistic Missile Defence strategy.
“The extraordinary squandering of resources in the vain
pursuit of technological immunity from nuclear weapons is itself
an offense against the will of the Creator,” said the church
leaders in a four-page letter dated March 15.
The letter, signed by the national leaders of the 20 churches
linked to the Canadian Council of Churches, was prompted by negotiations
that are underway which would see Canada lending support to the
U.S. initiative to build a ground-based missile defense system.
“We cannot afford to waste time and resources on an unworkable
strategic missile defense scheme. The world cannot afford it,”
said Karen Hamilton, the church council’s general secretary,
in a statement on March 16.
The missile defense system being developed by the U.S. is intended
to counter a perceived threat posed by the proliferation of ballistic
missiles among countries deemed to be rogue states. The administration
of President George W. Bush plans to deploy the first phase of
the system by 2004-05.
In Canada, the premier of Alberta, Ralph Klein, has said the
U.S. would be welcome to use his province to house part of its
proposed anti-ballistic missile defense shield. But the leader
of the New Democratic Party, Jack Layton, the furthest left of
the country’s mainstream political parties, said last week
Canada should halt all negotiations about joining the initiative.
Ernie Regehr, director of the Canadian Council of Churches’
peace initiative, Project Ploughshares, told ENI, “Proposed
security solutions like the ballistic missile defense fail to
counter the nuclear threat and precipitate further insecurities.”
In their letter, the church leaders urged the government “to
unequivocally reject the expensive futility of ballistic missile
defense.”
The leaders from Anglican, Roman Catholic, Protestant, and Eastern
and Oriental Orthodox church traditions also warned that possible
counter-measures by Russia and China could lead to “a dangerous
and cyclical defense-versus-offence dynamic.” |
