Notes

British Columbia

The Vancouver Island Peace Society has launched a lawsuit in Federal Court in Vancouver asking the court to order a public environmental review of the berthing of nuclear ships in Canadian harbours, specifically in Esquimalt and Victoria. Eight of ten Victoria area municipalities have petitioned the federal government for a public review as have Premier Mike Harcourt and his provincial NDP caucus, and Gordon Wilson and the B.C. Liberals. All Victoria area MPs have also called for a public review.

Vancouver Island journalist Kim Goldberg has recently published Submarine Dead Ahead: Waging Peace in America’s Nuclear Colony. The book focuses on the Nanoose Conversion Campaign and their efforts to convert a military base at Nanoose Bay, B.C.

A new video by Conscience Canada, Your Money or Your Life: A Dialogue on Conscientious Objection presents conversations with four notable Canadian conscientious objectors—Edith Adamson, co-founder of Conscience Canada, Dr. Jerilyn Prior, who took her Peace Tax test case to the Supreme Court of Canada, Jason Miller, the first Canadian Conscientious Objector since World War II, and Muriel Sibley, whose conscience led her to join the International Peace Camp in Iraq during the Gulf War. Order from: Conscience Canada, 505-620 View Street, Victoria Central Post Office, Victoria B.C. V8W 3S2

Dixon Entrance/Back Island Update:

An External Affairs spokesperson revealed in mid-January that prior notification by the U.S. of each operation in the area does not refer to individual submarine movements.

—Deborah Ferens 604/247-8335

Ontario

It’s Oakville for the 1992 Ontario Peace Conference!

Mark Sept. 11 to 13 down on your calendar and come get involved in province-wide peace networking. The annual OPC is where London meets Thunder Bay, where North Bay sips tea with Madoc, where we all get together, share news about the great work we’re doing and map out projects we might want to do together in the post-Gulf War world.

The theme of OPC ’92 is Building Peace Culture in Ontario: Working Together For Change. Look for workshops on Indigenous People’s Rights in Ontario; Domestic Violence; Developing Alternative Economies and much more.

Participation is not limited to official delegates-everyone is welcome. But to plan effectively for food, accommodation and programming, we need to know in advance how many people are planning to be there. How about regional and local volunteers to help spread the word about the OPC? Do you have any ideas for the conference? Contact the OPC at ACT Oakville, P.O. Box 7378, Oakville Ontario L1J 6L6. (416) 531-6154 or 844-3784.

The following is a brief report from the 1991 conference. Look for other Ontario Notes news in the next issue of PEACE. Please send news about what your group is doing to Ontario Notes. Our new address is P.O. Box 801, Peterborough, Ontario K9J 7A2. Responsibility is being assumed by the ACT Media Collective which is helping facilitate OPC ’92.

Resolutions from OPC ’91, held in Toronto in conjunction with the annual meeting of the International Peace Bureau:

That the OPC be reconvened in 1992.
That the OPC be loosely organized.
That a phone line and answering service be available to the OPC.
That a committee be formed to look into the possibility of holding the OPC conference at the same time as the Ontario Environmental Network conference (May-June ’92}.
That there will be an OPC at the Peace, Ecology and Human Rights Centre in Oakville in the fall of 1992, organized by ACT for Disarmament Oakville.

Some problems noted at the last OPC:

Failure to tackle the most difficult issues: Palestinian and Native Canadian violence; attitude towards Iraq in the Gulf War.
Lack of organization when it was needed, i.e. during the Gulf War.

Proposal: People need more time at next OPC to describe work and campaigns.

—Send Ontario news to: Allen Side, P.O. Box 801, Peterborough, Ontario Tel/fax 782-4522