CANADA Canada b Canada is becoming increas- ingly implicated in the USS. “nuclear infrastructure” — a vast network of nuclear war support systems and related facilities, say Canadian peace activists. Researchers at Project Plough- shares and other peace gorups say the number of nuclear war-related sites located in Canada is sharply on the rise. Canada plays host to at leat 80 such installations, they note, which puts us second only to West Germany in support for the U.S. nuclear war machine. “Canada is being dragged into the nuclear infrastructure in small increments,” says Gordon Flow- ers, executive secretary of the Canadian Peace Congress. ‘Most people remain unaware of this process because it doesn’t yet involve high-profile items such as nuclear missiles. We are, nevethe- less, becoming totally locked into the nuclear war-fighting network.” The Canadian government’s decision to permit construction of as many as five new northern air- fields for NORAD is just the latest step in the militarization and nuclearization of Canada, says Flowers. “The hosting of American fight- er planes in our North is directly related to the construction of Star Wars,” he says. “We will be responsible for handling cruise missiles and bombers, while Star Wars weapons will deal with high- flying intercontinental missiles. It is all part of a continental defence plan which will remove any semb- lance of Canadian independence _and freedom of action in military. matters.” Another new development in- volves the proposed $800-million expansion of air combat training facilities at Goose Bay, Labrador. This centre will become the major practice range for NATO pilots learning to fight under nuclear- war conditions. Some other worrisome ele- ments of Canada’s subservience to the U.S. nuclear war machine: e At least three air corridors over Canadian territory are regu- larly used by the U.S. Strate‘zic Air Command (SAC) to send au- clear-loaded B-52, FB-11 and B-1 bombers toward the Soviet Union. In a crisis, atomic bomb- ers would be dispersed to Cana- dian airfields such as Goose Bay and Namao to conduct nuclear ‘war missions from there. The NORAD treaty commits Canada to “‘guarantee safe passage of SAC aircraft.”’ e The numbers of port visits by nuclear-armed and nuclear- capable warships has risen alarm- ingly in recent years. In 1985, such vessels spent 270 ship-days in Canadian ports and, says Steve Shallhorn of the Toronto Dis- armament Network, “‘the number of nuclear visits to Canadian cities is likely to increase sharply again in 1986’°. e Six tests of the air-launched AGM-86B Cruise missile have been conducted since 1984 in northern Alberta and the NWT. Six more are scheduled for the coming year alone. e The U.S. Army and other NATO forces have used the artil- lery testing ranges at Shilo, Man- itoba and Suffield, Alberta for testing nuclear artillery shells, 4 e PACIFIC TRIBUNE, AUGUST 6, 1986 ecoming U.S. war bag The Nuclear Map B-52 and CF-18 flight corridor Esse Visits by nuclear-capable A ships, submarines Interceptor bases fo Proposed interceptor base Proposed airfields Radar, both DEW line and CADIN line Cruise missile test path Nuclear capable artillery training TRIBUNE GRAPHIC — PAUL og including the infamous “‘neutron bomb.”’ e Canada is allowing the construction of the North Warn- ing Line — 11 new radar instal- lations which will be completed by 1990 at a cost of $7-billion — to be operated by NORAD. e Two sites in northern Canada — Yellowknife, NWT, and Red Lake, Ontario, host seismic detection facilities operated by the U.S. Department of Energy. These installations are used for monitoring nuclear explosions that take place in the Soviet Union. “The problem with participat- ing in this,’ notes Flowers, ‘‘is that the United States continues to-reject Soviet offers of a com- prehensive test ban. The USSR has kept in force -a unilateral moratorium on such tests for a full year now. “It would be one thing if our territory was being used to help verify a test ban treaty. We could even be proud of that. However, Canada is in the position of acting as a ‘seismic spy’, aiding and abetting the U.S. in its unreason- able and counter-productive be- havior on this issue. Yet we are not using our leverage with the Americans to pressure them to negotiate seriously in the test ban talks.” —F.W. Nuclear weapons-free zones: impressive list TORONTO — The following towns and cities across Canada have declared themselves nuclear weapons free zones: British Columbia Vancouver Port Moody Vernon Kitimat Delta District of Saanich Town of Ladysmith Creston Alert Bay District of Terrace Fernie Lake Cowichan Nelson 100 Mile House Richmond Houston Fort St. James Sunshine Coast District Nimpkish Valley Sointula Courtenay-Comox Lasqueti Island Port Alberi North Vancouver Gulf Islands Kaslo Burnaby West Vancouver Squamish Port Coquitlam Alberta Didsbury Saskatchewan Regina Manitoba Province of Manitoba Nova Scotia Trenton Bridgewater Lunenburg Lunenburg Municipality Mahone Bay Wolfville Newfoundland St. John’s Quebec Chateauguay La Plaine Ville de Lachenaie _ Boucherville St. Georges-Ouest Hull Lakefield Saint Felicien Ancienne-Lorette Mascouche Beresford Charny Drummondville Geraldton Ontario Toronto Derby Township Bath Gananoque Kapuskasing Hamilton Kingsville Trenton Fort Frances Windsor Wellesley Township Dover Township Port Stanley ie Ancaster resi Township of Black River-Mathe” Township of Vespra soa Wilmot Township Red Lake Timmins Village of Hensall Guelph Owen Sound Niagara on the Lak Sarnia ; Parry Sound Brockville North York Sudbury Bastard and S. Burgess Thunder Bay Newmarket Borough of East York