PBI-Canada letter to the editor on arms exports published in the Toronto Star

On May 10, a letter to the editor submitted by Peace Brigades International-Canada was published by the Toronto Star, Canada’s largest circulation newspaper.

The letter submitted to the Toronto Star states:

Canada bans military-style firearms, but what about handguns?, May 1

I agree with the Editorial Board that “Banning a range of military-style firearms is an important first step for Canada.”

Along with the issue of handguns, there is also the “glaring problem” of Canada increasingly exporting weapons that are designed to kill the most people in the shortest amount of time. The federal government’s official figures also indicate that Canada’s arms exports doubled in 2018 to $2.069 billion, up from $1.031 billion in 2017.

It’s also troubling that Canada announced on April 10 that it “fully supports” the United Nations call for a global ceasefire so that nations can focus on fighting the pandemic, but that the day prior it announced that it was ending a temporary suspension of the approval of permits for new arms exports to Saudi Arabia.

Let us hope that a next step includes action on this.

Brent Patterson, Peace Brigades International-Canada, Ottawa

The circulation for the Sunday edition of the Toronto Star is 185,159 readers.