On Wednesday, October 19th, the Canadian Armed Forces are holding a military recruitment event at the Ontario College Information Fair at the Enercare Center in downtown Toronto.
Socialist Action and the Municipal Socialist Alliance are committed to civil and non-violent direct action and plan to disrupt this recruitment event by exposing attendees to the reality of war and Canada’s role in hegemonic imperialism.
We demand the Canadian Armed Forces end student recruitment and immediately move to disarm, defund and demilitarize, as humanity faces what is an impending extinction-level climate crisis and ecological catastrophe.
FIGHT CLIMATE CHANGE NOT WAR
In 2021, Canada spent 15x more money on the Department of Defence than on the Department of Environment and Climate Change ($29.3 billion CAD vs. $1.7 billion CAD). The Department of Defence contributes to 50% of the federal government’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, making it the federal government’s biggest emitter by far. To make matters worse, military emissions are exempt from the federal GHG emissions reduction target.
CANADA OUT OF NATO
Canada currently spends 1.4% of its GDP on the military, but as a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), Canada pledges to boost military spending to 2% of Its GDP, which would require adding an additional $75.3 billion by 2027 to the defense budget. To meet NATO obligations, Canada commits to spending $77 billion on purchasing and operating 88 new fighter jets. As part of NATO, Canada participated in the illegal bombing of Yugoslavia (1999), the invasion and occupation of Afghanistan (2001-2014), and the Canada-led bombing campaign of Libya (2011). Apart from the United States, Canada sells more weapons to Saudi Arabia than any other country despite the bloody Saudi-led invasion of Yemen.
END STUDENT MILITARY RECRUITMENT
Military recruitment in Canada is in crisis, with 10% of positions unfilled. The Canadian Armed Forces offer “free” tuition to take advantage of high school students who can’t afford expensive tuition. To increase recruitment, the military is targeting women despite rampant sexual violence (25% of women in the Canadian military report being sexually assaulted)
Join us for this action for peace on Wednesday, October 19th at 5 PM at 100 Princess Blvd outside of the Enercare Center in Toronto.
For more information visit tinyurl.com/stopCAFrecruiting, SocialistAction.ca, and SocialistAlliance.ca
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Solidarity.