Society Promoting Environmental Conservation
For immediate release: Tuesday, June 08, 1999
NANOOSE EXPROPRIATION OBJECTIONS FILED
VANCOUVER - Letters of objection from 18 environmental,
labour, church and first nations groups today added to
growing opposition against Ottawa's hostile expropriation
of Nanoose Bay.
Delegations from the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers
Union of Canada, Society Promoting Environmental Conservation
(SPEC), UFAW/CAW, T. Buck Suzuki Environmental Foundation,
Nanoose Conversion Campaign, EcoCafe Sustainability, Society,
Oblate Conference of Canada - Justice and Peace Commission,
Aboriginal Rights Coalition of Vancouver, Veterans Against
Nuclear Arms (VANA), David Suzuki Foundation, Canadian Peace
Alliance, Women's International League for Peace and Freedom - BC,
Religious Society of Friends (Quakers)-Ottawa, Religious Society
of Friends (Quakers)-Argenta, Citizens Concerned About Free Trade,
Pacific Campaign for Disarmament and Security, End the Arms Race,
Georgia Strait Alliance and the Sunshine Coast Peace Group
hand-delivered their complaints to the Public Works Canada at
800 Burrard Street in Vancouver today.
The Manager of Acquisition and Disposal Real Estate Services for
Public Works and Government Services, D.E. Fleischer, assured
SPEC president David Cadman that objections would be registered
within 30 days. He indicated, however, that a yet to be appointed
hearing officer will determine whether objector groups will
receive official acknowledgment that their complaints have indeed
been received. Nor was Fleischer able to say where or when hearings
will be held.
Official Expropriation Act notices that appeared in the Vancouver
Sun and two Vancouver Island newspapers in May failed to mention
Nanoose, nuclear weapons or nuclear reactor powered submarines.
Nevertheless, Public Works Canada has already received objections
from BC, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Ontario, as well as one from
California. Only objections received before June 21 will be considered.
-30-
Information:
David Cadman (604)736-7732,
or
Norm Abbey: (604)351-1416
<iabbey@alternative.com>
wwww.user.dccnet.com/lagasse/Nuclear_Free_Georgia_Strait/nanoose.html
_________________________________________________
Society Promoting Environmental Conservation
2150 Maple St., Vancouver, BC, V6J 3T3
Phone: (604) 736-7732; Fax: (604) 736-7115
SINCE 1969 ENVIRONMENTAL ADVOCACY,EDUCATION, AND CONSERVATION
________________________________________________________
Society Promoting Environmental Conservation
2150 Maple St., Vancouver, BC, V6J 3T3
Phone: (604) 736-7732; Fax: (604) 736-7115
SINCE 1969 ENVIRONMENTAL ADVOCACY,EDUCATION, AND CONSERVATION
=================================================================
ENVIRONMENT, LABOUR, PEACE AND FIRST NATIONS
GROUPS FILE OBJECTIONS TO NANOOSE EXPROPRIATION
VANCOUVER - A broad grouping
of environmental, labour, church,
First Nations, peace and community groups will file formal objections
to Liberal
Minister David Anderson's plan to expropriate Nanoose Bay which will
allow
US atomic submarines to bring nuclear warheads into Georgia Strait.
The groups will deliver their objections to the regional director
of Public Works and Government Services Canada offices at 800
Burrard
St.,Vancouver at 10 a.m. on Tues., June 08. Public Works will be scheduling
administrative hearings for objectors to the expropriation.
MPM@ SPEC is asking Prime Minister Jean Chretien
to initiate a full public
inquiry into all aspects of the Canadian Forces Experimental and Test
Ranges at Nanoose Bay including environmental, social, economic and
legal
issues associated with the operation of nuclear-powered and nuclear-weapons
capable warships in BC.
"The people of British Columbia
have a right to decide if they want to
accept the risk of having nuclear warheads close to an urban region
of
almost three million people," said SPEC president David Cadman. "Only
a
full and wide-ranging public inquiry can begin to do that. Hearings
under
the Expropriation Act are just too limited in scope to deal with this
crucial issue."
Groups sharing Cadman's
concerns include the Communication, Energy and
Paper Workers Union, the United Fishers and Allied Workers, End the
Arms
Race, Nanoose Conversion Campaign, the David Suzuki Foundation, the
Aboriginal Rights Coalition, the Vancouver and District Labour Council,
the
Catholic Oblate Justice and Peace Commission, the Georgia Strait Alliance,
Pacific Campaign for Disarmament and Security, Citizens Concerned about
Free Trade and the Sunshine Coast Peace Group.
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Information: David Cadman (604)736-7732
VANCOUVER - Ottawa's hostile expropriation of Nanoose Bay
for US nuclear
submarines amounts to a declaration of war against BC and against
the
environment, says the Nanoose Conversion Campaign (NCC).
Nanoose, a branch-plant of the Underwater Warfare Research Center
in
Keyport WA, is a key component in the US Navy's reliance
on nuclear
weapons - including first use.
US policy is to "neither confirm nor deny" nuclear weapons on its ships.
"It seems Mr. Anderson's policy to neither ask nor care",
said NCC
director Norm Abbey. "What part of NO NUKES does
Ottawa not understand?"
BC rejected nuclear warships in 1992, when the BC legislature
voted 51
to1 to become a Nuclear Weapons Free Zone (NWFZ). Premier
Clark gave
nuclear submarines formal notice to vacate in August 1997.
Operations at Nanoose violate BC's NWFZ, and NCC is arguing
before the
Federal Court of Appeal that dumping 93,000 km of copper wire and 2,200
tonnes of torpedo entrails into Georgia Strait salmon habitat also
violates
Canada's Environmental Assessment Act. Moreover nuclear bombs
violate
International law. The International (World) Court of Justice
in the Hague
ruled in 1996 that nuclear threats are illegal - putting the
onus on
Anderson and his cabinet colleagues to avoid criminal liability by
bringing
Canadian policy into line with the ICJ ruling.
Ottawa has ignored demands from all BC political leaders for a full
public
review of Nanoose; ignored economic analysis showing alternate use
would
create more jobs; ignored scientific warnings about the nuclear dangers
and
non-existent nuclear emergency response plans; and is ignoring
regulations under the Supreme Court of Canada's Delgamuukw ruling
which
require consultation with the Nanoose First Nation -
whose land claim
includes Nanoose.
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Information: Norman Abbey (604)351-1416
Nanoose Conversion Campaign
2150 Maple Street, Vancouver, BC, Canada, V6J 3T3
(604)739-0432
Tel/Fax e-mail: iabbey@alternatives.com
____________________________________________________________________________
VANCOUVER - A group of leading environmental activists are challenging
the legality of Canada's policy permitting US nuclear submarines
to use the controversial Georgia Strait weapons test range at Nanoose Bay
north of Nanaimo.
In an April 21 letter to Prime Minister Jean Chrétien,
environmental educator David Suzuki, long-time activist Elizabeth May,
UBC political scientist Dr. Michael Wallace and Society Promoting Environmental
Conservation president David Cadman want Chrétien to "seek an advisory
opinion from a Canadian court" to determine whether activities at the Nanoose
Bay range comply with international law. In 1996 the International
(World) Court of Justice in The Hague ruled that the use or threat of
nuclear weapons is "contrary to International Humanitarian Law."
The letter notes that the Nanoose Bay test site is a satellite facility of the US Navy's Keyport, WA. Underwater Warfare Research Center which is a key element in operations of the US nuclear fleet and its reliance on nuclear weapons.
Although BC Premier Glen Clark has indicated he wants to cancel the lease allowing the US Navy to use the Nanoose range, federal Defence Minister Art Eggleton says Ottawa may expropriate the range as early as September, 1999.
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Information: Dr. David Suzuki....................(604)730-9670
Dr. Michael
Wallace (UBC)...(604)822-4550
Elizabeth
May........................(613)241-4611
David
Cadman (SPEC)..........(604)736-7732
Related information:
www.user.dccnet.com/lagasse/Nuclear_Free_Georgia_Strait/nanoose.html
O==O==O==O==O
Right Honourable Jean Chretien
Prime Minister of Canada April 21, 1999
House of Commons
Ottawa, Ontario,
K1A 0A6
Dear Prime Minister,
Re: Nanoose Bay (CFMETR) and the World Court
In view of your government's timely and welcome review of Canada's nuclear policies, including NATO, we want to know whether the Canadian Forces Maritime Experimental and Test Ranges (CFMETR) at Nanoose Bay complies with the 1996 World Court ruling on nuclear weapons threats.
CFMETR is for all intents and purposes a satellite facility of the U.S.
Navy's Keyport (Wa.) Underwater Warfare Research Center, which is a key
element in maintaining the operational effectiveness of the U.S. nuclear
fleet and its reliance on nuclear weapons - including first use.
As such, CFMETR is seemingly non-compliant with the July 8, 1996 ruling
that the use or threat of nuclear weapons is "generally contrary
to International
Humanitarian Law."
Foreign Affairs committee member Ted McWhinney, M.P. noted in 1998 that,
"The world court judges envisage that their decision would be applied
and
tested in lots of low-level cases and in their view there's a highly
educational function in that."
We agree, and therefore request that your government seek an advisory opinion from a Canadian Court in order to answer this question.
Sincerely, Dr. David Suzuki
Dr. Michael Wallace, director
Nanoose Conversion Campaign
Elizabeth May,
environmental activist
David B. Cadman, president
Society Promoting Environmental Conservation
Cc: Hon. Lloyd Axworthy: Foreign Affairs and
International Trade
Hon. Anne McLellan:
Attorney General of Canada