Working with “Youth Campaigning on Canadian CCM Legislation” and Mines Action Canada, PSALM students completed a 20 foot artwork made especially for members of the Canadian Parliament working on the Convention on Cluster Munitions legislation. Students sent self-portraits with the message, “We don’t want our country to use cluster bombs, please don’t help them. Changez le projet de loi et donnez-nous un avenir plus sécuritaire”.
WVCBL/PSALM joins Mines Action Canada in their disappointment that the Senate of Canada has passed the severely flawed draft implementation legislation on the Convention on Cluster Munitions, Bill S-10, without amendment. It is now up to the House of Commons to review the legislation and amend it to protect not only the spirit and the intent of the Convention, but also to protect innocent lives.The Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade heard from numerous expert witnesses from Canada and around the world who pointed out many significant flaws in the legislation and suggested a variety of ways to strengthen the Bill. Despite amendments being proposed in both the Committee and during Third Reading, the Senate voted to maintain the flaws in the legislation and send it to the House of Commons unchanged. “The vote in the Senate means that Canada could have the weakest legislation in the world unless MPs are willing to make some much needed amendments. As a country that has never used or produced cluster munitions, Canada can and should have the best legislation in the world. Mines Action Canada and its colleagues in the Cluster Munition Coalition hope that all Members of the House will work to ensure that Canada is a leader in protecting civilians, as well as ,ensuring that no Canadian will ever use this banned weapon for any reason, anywhere, at any time, for anyone” said Paul Hannon, Executive Director.
Péclet, members on the Foreign Affairs Committee of the
Canadian Parliament, standing in front of the Parliament building.
As the legislation moves into the House of Commons, citizens across Canada, WVCBL/PSALM and cluster munition victims around the world call on Members of the Canadian Parliament to ensure that the legislation lives up to the spirit and purpose of the Convention on Cluster Munitions which is to end for all time the suffering caused by cluster munitions. TO LEARN MORE, GO TO: http://www.minesactioncanada.org
Erin Hunt, Program Officer, Mines Action Canada