PBI-Canada and World Beyond War co-host “More militarism is not the answer” webinar
Photo (clockwise): Rachel Small, Syed Hussan, Clayton Thomas-Muller, Tyler Shipley.
On April 8, PBI-Canada, World Beyond War and the Canadian Foreign Policy Institute co-hosted a webinar to deepen our common understanding of the impact of militarism on Indigenous lands, borders and foreign policy.
Hosted by Rachel Small of World Beyond War, the panel consisted of Cree land defender Clayton Thomas-Muller, Migrant Workers Alliance executive director Syed Hussan, and Humber College professor Tyler Shipley.
A recording of the full webinar can be seen here.
Shipley commented: “These two militaries [Canada and the US] have been deeply integrated; they’ve been deeply intertwined in a very conscious way. This dates back as early as the 1950s when Canada pushes the Defence Production Sharing Agreement which was basically an economic-military deal on who would produce what… And in the last 20 years, since 9/11, there has been an explicit push to radically integrate the two militaries to such an extent that the former head of the Canadian Forces was actually commanding a force of 35,000 American troops in the war in Iraq.”
It is the Defence Production Sharing Agreement that also limits transparency to know if Canadian components are going into the equipment that is then exported via the United States to Honduras. PBI-Honduras accompanied COPINH is calling for a suspension of these exports from the U.S. given the human rights violations committed by Honduran security forces, namely the police and military.
Hussan warned: “At this point what we are seeing is that they’ve already announced, US Canada, very deep trade and security integration conference that’s going to take place as soon as the election happens, so they’ve already agreed to that… I think Canada wants to export water and critical minerals, which is not Canada’s, to the US. And I think all the parties would follow whether it’s Trump or Biden or Obama, whether it’s Poilievre or Trudeau or Carney to do deep integration.”
And Thomas-Muller explained: “From an Indigenous perspective, I’ve always framed Canada as a resource colony of military superpowers, namely the United States… This has dramatic impacts that are much more disproportionate to Indigenous peoples.”
He continued: “When we would look at this ask for militarization by the right it’s just part of the same old delay and dupe tactics to con the public into fast-tracking irresponsible extraction projects now whether that’s for the booming rare earth minerals market, you know every single missile they’re firing at Gaza in the genocide has about 900 pounds of rare earth minerals in it, so they are absolutely required for the application of military technologies and there is a renaissance across this country in the mining sector even here in Manitoba with the most popular premier in the country Wab Kinew and his NDP government, they are deeply in bed with the mining sector and are deeply invested in expanding and militarizing the port of Churchill in the Hudson Bay here in Manitoba because of the fact that this is set to become the biggest export terminal in the hemisphere because of the free Arctic Ocean, the free sea ice due to climate change. The Arctic Ocean routes coming out of Hudson Bay, out of Manitoba, cut ocean shipping lanes by 8,000 kilometres to anywhere on planet Earth.”
“So geopolitically this is a massive issue for Indigenous peoples and those Manitobans living in that region because of the investment that’s coming in, the thousands of workers that are coming in, the automation of the port, the dredging of the beluga whale sanctuary so these oil tankers, they’re very heavy, tar sands oil is 10 times more heavy than conventional oil; to get these ships in they’re going to have to do some pretty destructive things in one of the most beautiful [areas] of these lands they call Canada, the polar bears and the beluga whales, and all of this of course is running roughshod through Indigenous peoples’ territory, namely my nations territory, Pukatawagan Cree Nation; we own the train line to Churchill, Manitoba, Canada…”
Thomas-Mullen concluded by highlighting: “Prime Minister Carney wants to build a freeway to Churchill, a NAFTA super free trade highway I’ve heard it called over the years. That intention hasn’t changed, and so Indigenous peoples need to understand that this is being framed as economic development, as opportunities, but we’re the ones who are going to have our water poisoned by expanding gold mines and other rare earth mines. We’re the ones who are going to see our forests chopped down to make way for highways and these mines and all these other developments… We’re the ones who are going to have to live with the military bases that Carney wants to install all over Arctic Canada, and you know that’s Inuit people who’ve got to live with that. And just ask the Beaver Lake Cree about what it’s like to live beside a bombing range to know that it’s hell on earth.”
Peace Brigades International-Canada is deeply concerned that this integration, that this economic model, will put at risk the lives and well-being of Indigenous land defenders and water protectors who peacefully resist this militarization and this environmental devastation of their ancestral territories.
To watch the full webinar, click here.
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