Salmon Arm Council agreed to write to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly regarding nuclear weapons.
Resident Anne Morris wrote to council in July on behalf of KAIROS-Salmon Arm, asking that a letter be sent regarding the United Nations Review of the Nuclear Weapons Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
Talks were scheduled from Aug. 1 to 26, 2022 in New York because the 2020 NPT Review Conference was postponed several times because of Covid-19.
“In 2020, Salmon Arm City Council adopted a motion authorizing the Mayor to write to Prime Minister Trudeau and the Foreign Affairs Minister urging that Canada make nuclear arms control and disarmament a national priority, and work towards achieving an international consensus that will save the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) when it comes up for Review at the United Nations,” Morris wrote in her letter.
She said the NPT is the bedrock of the international effort to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons, and she quoted retired Canadian Senator Douglas Roche who wrote ‘it is on the verge of collapse.’
Morris said council’s letter would help remind the federal government that Canadians are concerned about this issue and about the position Canada takes at the review conference.
Mayor Alan Harrison said he would be “more than happy to write the letter.”
The United Nations website states: “Opened for signature in 1968, the Treaty entered into force in 1970. Since its entry into force, the NPT has been the cornerstone of global nuclear non-proliferation regime. 191 States parties have joined the Treaty, including the five nuclear-weapon States, making the NPT the most widely adhered to multilateral disarmament agreement.”
Talks continue in New York and can be viewed on UN Web TV.
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