We have been responding to the BMD issue since it re-emerged in the early 1990s, providing information and analysis, and in particular proposing alternatives for dealing with the threats that the ballistic missile system is intended to address. At the end of 2003 we completed the major study, Canada and Ballistic Missile Defence, published jointly with the Simons Centre for Peace and Disarmament Studies at the Liu Institute for Global Issues, University of British Columbia.

During 2004 we assisted the Canadian Council of Churches (CCC) in preparing a letter from Canadian church leaders to the Prime Minister urging him to reject Canada’s involvement in the BMD system, prepared briefings and articles on various issues related to BMD, assisted the CCC with a follow-up letter from Canadian churches to the Prime Minister, and in early November presented a brief on BMD to the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Affairs of the House of Commons.

Even though Canada decided early in 2005 not to become more heavily involved in the US system, the US will proceed and the implications for the international disarmament environment will have to be addressed. A matter of considerable importance will be the attempt to place limits on the strategic BMD systems that are deployed – namely restricting the number of interceptors to make sure that they do not go beyond the declared "limited defence" objectives.

There are indications in the USA that support for BMD is waning in the face of considerable technical problems with the system and its high costs. An article related to US developments was in the winter 2005 issue of The Ploughshares Monitor.

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Background