BRITISH COLUMBIA —_— Cancellation of Microtel contract urged Delegates to the Vancouver Peace Assembly annual meeting Sunday unanim- ously demanded that the federal and B.C. ' governments intervene to cancel the con- tract awarded to Microtel Ltd. of Burnaby for production of equipment to be installed _ as part of the North Warning System. Declaring that the warning system is ‘‘an integral part of the U.S. administration’s Star Wars program that will lead to. ..the militarization of space and our Canadian North,” the emergency resolution emphas- ized that the government should act to pro- vide “meaningful employment through _ production for peaceful rather than military purposes.” _ The resolution was one of several adopted by the 40 delegates who braved the late winter snowstorm to take part in the the peace assembly’s second annual general meeting. They also endorsed a telegram to Prime Minister Brian Mulroney calling on him to demand during his March meeting with U.S. President Ronald Reagan that the Uni- ted States match the initiative taken by the Soviet Union in declaring a unilateral moratorium on nuclear-weapons testing. “A test ban is the acid test of sincere commitment to a desire to end the arms " race,” said Dr. James Foulks, president of ~ the B.C. Peace Council in his address to the meeting. : Foulks outlined the significance of the _ 15-year plan for the elimination of nuclear _ weapons announced by the Soviet Union 7 on Jan. 15, emphasizing that Gorbachev’s proposals “clearly show who genuinely , _ seeks disarmament, who is actively seeking ' solutions and who are those that only give lip service to disarmament and put the great © financial burden of the arms race on future generations.” He noted that nuclear wea- pons testing in the U.S. had escalated con- siderably under the Reagan administration. ‘ Foulks also fielded questions from partic- / ipants on Canada’s link to the U.S. Star Wars program through NORAD. “Star " Wars is clearly a first-strike strategy,” he y said. “And if Star Wars is to succeed Can- | ada must be involved through NORAD ~ and the North Warning System.” j The $100-million contract awarded recently to Microtel Ltd. covers production , of communications equipment for the | North Warning System. _ A ssubsidiary of Canadian National, CANAC Consultants Ltd. of Montreal will be Microtel’s partner in the contract. The agreement to construct the system of | 47 radar sites strung out across Canada’s |_ arctic, an updated version of the old Distant Early Warning (DEW) line, was signed last \ year in March at the so-called Shamrock | Summit between Mulroney and Reagan. ; Participants at the meeting also heard a ‘report from Andrew Milne, a member of Science for Peace and Engineers for Nuclear | Disarmament, who had recently returned rom the Soviet Union as a guest of the oviet Peace Committee. Peggy Chunn, an executive member of | the B.C. Peace Council who represented the organization at the international peace con- \ ference held in Australia in October last ‘year, reported on that conference and the ! resulting declaration of the South Pacific ) and Indian Ocean as zones of peace. Vancouver alderman Bruce Yorke gave an up-date report on the upcoming Van- . couver Centennial Peace Festival and called ! on all Vancouver peace activists to ensure | that the International Peace Symposium | was a resounding success. Alert raised on NORAD pact Disarmament groups across Canada held simultaneous country-wide news con- ferences Feb. 11 to reiterate the peace movement’s warning that Canada is in danger of becoming involved in Star Wars through NORAD and to demand that Ottawa declare unequivocally that Canada will not become involved in any active bal- listic missile or bomber interception defence program. The news conferences, held in a number of major centres from Victoria to Halifax, N.S., were co-ordinated by the newly- formed Canadian Peace Alliance which will also be launching a national campaign against Star Wars following a steering committee meeting later this month in Cal- gary. In Vancouver, End the Arms Race vice- president Gary Marchant and Dorothy Goresky, national president of Physicians for Social Responsibility, read a common statement released across the country which warned of the “increased danger of Canada being drawn into Star Wars. ““We believe Star Wars to be an extremely destabilizing escalation of the arms race which would be an important component of a first-strike, nuclear war-fighting capa- bility,” the statement declared. “With the current U.S. commitment to develop a Star Wars system, and the close connection between NORAD and the newly-formed U.S. Space Command, there is reason to fear an increasing Canadian complicity in Star Wars.” The statement noted that disaramment groups across the country had attempted to document their concern before the Standing Committee on External Affairs and Defence but “‘The government has failed to address this evidence and to assure the Can- adian public that NORAD will not be directly involved in Star Wars.” It called on Ottawa to: ® “Unambiguously guarantee that Can- adian territory will not be used for deploy- ment of any components of ballistic missile defences; @ “Eliminate any chance that the North Warning System could be extended into a comprehensive air defence system for the tracking and interception of Soviet cruise missile and bombers; @ Demand that the NORAD infrastruc- ture, such as the Ballistic Missile Early Warning System (BMEWS), not be used for Star Wars tracking or strategic defence co- ordination.” The simultaneous news conferences were > | terms. prompted by the impending release of the report of the Standing Committee and the expectation that a cabinet decision would follow soon after, echoing the reports recommendations — which _ studiously ignore all of the peace movement’s con- cems. Although the report has not been for- mally released, its main recommendations, obtained from committee sources, were out- lined by the Toronto Star Jan. 22. Accord- ing to the paper, the committee calls for a full five year renewal of NORAD without re-insertion of the clause removed in 1981, which excluded Canada from participation in ballistic missile defence. It also proposes a massive increase in defence spending, from 2.1 per cent of Gross National Product to 3.8 per cent and urges that Canada participate in Phase 2 of Strategic Defence Architecure 2000. SDA 2000, to be conducted by NORAD commander-in-chief Robert Herres, is essentially the planning structure for Star Wars. “Tt’s clear that the whole report is asham and a whitewash of public opposition,” EAR’s Gary Marchant told reporters. “It was created simply to clear the way for Canadian participation in Star Wars.” Marchant charged that the committee was a “stacked up, loaded committee of the 11 hardest-line members of the Tory cau- cus. Everyone of them seemed hostile to MARCHANT (r) GORESKY...urge letters to Mulroney against NORAD renewal arms control and hostile to stopping Star Wars,” he said adding that the cabinet had obviously appointed them for that reason. Prevented from issuing a minority report, the Liberal and New Democratic Party members of the committee quit last year in protest. “But we don’t accept that the report is an accurate reflection of the Canadian public — and we're continuing to call on Prime Minister Mulroney to put in place guaran- tees that Canada won’t become involved in Star Wars through NORAD,” he said. Disarmament groups across the country are calling on Canadians to flood Mulro- ney’s office with letters urging that the government not adopt the report’s recom- mendations. Following a steering committee meeting Feb. 21-23, the Canadian Peace Alliance will also be initiating a national campaign, likely a petition, demanding: @ No participation in Star Wars through NORAD; © No participation in comprehensive air defence; @ No Canadian political support for Star Wars; - ® No Canadian Star Wars contracts. Marchant said that opposition to Star Wars involvement thorugh NORAD will likely be a focus of this year’s Walk for Peace Apr. 27. ‘We want action,’ MP’s ee | ie Jobless shipyard worker Martin Groen outlines Bel-Aire worke rs’ plight to secretary Monica Nelson at MP’s office Monday. office told Continued from’ page 1 constituency office to demand a meeting with the Tory MP on the shipbuilding crisis that directly affects several yards in the constituency. Cook was not available, but the 50 unionists called on secretary Monica Nelson to ensure that Cook sets up a meeting when he returns to Vancouver next. week. Martin Groen, laid off from Bel-Aire after 3 years at the yard, asked workers to indicate by a show of hands how many were approaching exhaustion on their UI claims or were already on welfare. Half raised their hands. “We know about the work that’s going to Korea and Japan and Britain,” he said. “And we want something done about it. “We don’t want to be sewer — we want to work.” “We're not just here seeking public- ity,” Fitzpatrick said in echoing Groen. “We want some answers from Ottawa — and we want some action.” in the PACIFIC TRIBUNE, FEBRUARY 19, 1986 e 3