Our Objectives

• Encourage explicit Canadian support, in voice and action, for the elimination of nuclear weapons
• Contribute, through NGO and government initiatives, to international policies and actions that support nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation

Our Recent Initiatives

• 2011
  In April, Project Ploughshares, along with Canadian Pugwash Group, Physicians for Global Survival, World Federalist Movement – Canada and Canadian Network to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, sponsored a seminar, "Toward a Nuclear Weapons Convention: A Role for Canada." This seminar was held to develop a broadly shared understanding of the main elements and requirements for a global convention to prohibit nuclear weapons, to build Canadian capacity in the expert and disarmament advocacy community on key issues linked to advancing the global movement toward a nuclear weapons convention and to engage the Canadian government to encourage early and concrete support for working toward a nuclear weapons convention.

• 2010
  In June, Ploughshares Co-founder Ernie Regehr participated in a meeting in Copenhagen on nuclear issues relating to India and Pakistan. The meeting was part of a series of sessions, called the Ottawa Dialogue, organized by the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs of the University of Ottawa.
  In June, the 23 member churches of The Canadian Council of Churches unanimously signed a letter to Prime Minister Stephen Harper to strongly urge him and his government to publicly endorse a world without nuclear weapons.
  In May, three Project Ploughshares staff members attended the NPT Review Conference. Ernie Regehr presented the report Transparency and Accountability - NPT Reporting 2002-2009, which provided an overview of the NPT reporting from 2002 to 2009.
  In May, Project Ploughshares and the Centre for International Governance Innovation sponsored a lecture held in Waterloo by Jayantha Dhanapala, president of the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs, entitled "Global Nuclear Challenges and Multilateral Responses."
  In March, Ernie Regehr presented a paper on nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament at the annual Japan-Canada Symposium on Peace and Security Cooperation in Tokyo.
  In January, Ploughshares co-sponsored the conference Practical Steps to Zero Nuclear Weapons in Ottawa. Attendees included academics and NGO representatives as well as officials from the United Nations, the U.S. State Department and the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada. Ernie Regehr did a presentation on the nuclear elements in NATO’s Strategic Concept.