Campaign for Nuclear Phaseout /
Nuclear Awareness Project
Media Release
END NUCLEAR COOPERATION WITH PAKISTAN, ENVIRONMENT GROUPS SAY
Friday, May 29, 1998 - For Immediate Release
Ottawa -- In the wake of Pakistan's nuclear tests, Canada's connection
to its nuclear program was placed under scrutiny by environment groups
today. The groups point out that Canada has maintained an ongoing nuclear
connection with Pakistan, which like India, is the recipient of CANDU technology.
Pakistan operates a CANDU reactor known as KANUPP, which is the country's
only operational nuclear power reactor. The majority of KANUPP reactor
construction was funded through CIDA and the Export Development Corporation
in the late 1960s and 1970s.
While Canada officially ended nuclear cooperation with Pakistan in 1977, after it refused to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, Pakistan and India joined the CANDU Owners Group (COG) Information Exchange Program in 1988. This reversal of Canada's non-proliferation policy was made without public consultation or parliamentary debate.
Commenting on Canada's ongoing nuclear connection with Pakistan, David Martin of the Nuclear Awareness Project stated, "It is scandalous that Canada continues to provide nuclear assistance in the name of safety. The federal government is playing a hypocritical game by banning conventional military exports to Pakistan, while continuing to provide nuclear aid."
Kristen Ostling, National Coordinator of the Campaign for Nuclear Phaseout stated, "Civilian and military nuclear programs cannot be separated. Canada bears special responsibility for the current nuclear escalation between India and Pakistan. Canada launched the nuclear programs of both countries by exporting reactors to them. Canadians should encourage the Prime Minister to end Canada's hypocritical and dangerous nuclear exports policy."
Elizabeth May, Executive Director of the Sierra Club of Canada stated, "If the Chrétien government were serious about expressing its outrage to Pakistan, it would clearly outline measures to end our nuclear cooperation."
Gordon Edwards, President of the Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility, stated, (the government's reaction) shows the moral bankruptcy of Canada's current nuclear policy, which allows some countries to have nuclear weapons but not others. It is time for Canada to say that nuclear weapons, like bacteriological and chemical weapons, represent a crime against humanity, no matter who has them."
Norman Rubin, Energy Probe's Director of Nuclear Research, stated, "Canada's nuclear reactors were the seeds of today's nuclear-armed conflict between India and Pakistan, planted in both countries by Canada. Those reactor exports were, and still are, fully supported by our federal government, and the seeds remain viable almost forever. If Jean Chrétien is shocked or surprised by recent developments, he simply doesn't understand what seeds do. Plant a bomb, get a bomb."
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For more information:
Campaign for Nuclear Phaseout, 613-789-3634, web: www.cnp.ca
Nuclear Awareness Project, 905-852-0571
Sierra Club of Canada, 613-241-4611, web: www.sierraclub.ca/national
Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility, 514-489-5118, web: www.ccnr.org
Energy Probe, 416-964-9223 ext. 226, web: www.nextcity.com/EnergyProbe
Campaign for Nuclear Phaseout