| Canadians march

) seRONTO — In Toronto’s ae _€ver peace demonstra- ae 23, more than 20,000 ; Tho Seegthae their refusal to e US. Cruise missile to

tested in Canada. € its count rts else- Fe erparts else ate March and rally sent a Per fr I message to Prime Minis- ‘'& 5 oe and his government MPs tg the majority of Tory tthe te © voice no objection to | Sts — that Canadians refuse

Tulse!

Sis ages, all origins and with ig widely differing creeds, | Cannes: together in a colorful, I do 1 banner rippling, placard Procession, led by Los | .-Mpaneros musicians and sing- ti ng presentatives of organiza- in ACT (Against Cruise

esti S, Sting coalition), and aldermen

Show eromised ‘‘giant’’ puppet tere «2S giant — 20 foot charac-

IN the armaments and dis- ae drama. The dramatic Bittcsin. on of a Cruise into -a “Made ar, performed by Partisan, ‘humorously point. —— fade unions, peace groups Saba parties took part, the | ind; Unist Party marching be- ‘the its Refuse the Cruise banner, : ad Democratic Party, the ay ee Peace Congress.as well 'P ox Toronto Association for lee €, Brampton Peace Commit- | 7 2nd East End Peace Action. A Tr. included the United hg Workers from Brampton

t. Catharines; Canadian f Public Employees, 79 (Toronto inside. work- and public service workers Tumbe SEU and PSAC, a Buitg; T of workers from the “aon Ng Trades, Steelworkers, Bg, o with the Canadian Union of

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ata Falls. demo. Was added to by fraternal R ae atic organizations of South’ Greeks, Portuguese, Siang Africans, Chileans, Rus- ee Ukrainians; as well as © tess “9 groups like the Con- Boy Of Canadian Women; youth PS including the Young Pe Munist League, Youth for

a : chiro, and more; various ‘the; °S Were present to add

T support.

A ay the city hall square destina- Htion of akers declared the inten- UD th their organizations to keep “teste battle to stop the Cruise

World etd, and to work for a Wa of the threat of nuclear ig Obert White, Canadian Un- { ar Workers president, of the effective cross section ae Present who were

Ve; eons their ‘‘concern

the », © Continuing escalation of «Uclear arms race.

Jayi, De around the world are ‘fore er let’s stop this madness be- Lap S too late,’’ he pointed out. ie = tell Trudeau,”’ he added,

fuse po out a decision to re-

Coun he Cruise ... in our own

Mente: He can’t make state-

at the U.N. about smother-

Sewell and Jack Layton. -

against the Cruise

ing nuclear weapons, and then agree to test the Cruise!”

Reflecting the view of the vast gathering, he said: ‘‘We have no intention of remaining silent while the world moves to the brink of nuclear destruction.”

C.G. Gifford, a World War II airforce veteran and organizer of Veterans for Multi-lateral Nuc- lear Disarmament, told the par- ticipants: ‘‘Four years ago repre- sentatives of 150 veterans’ or- ganizations from around the world met in Prague ...”” It be- came clear, he said, that “‘what we fought to defend, what we and our comrades fought and died for, is being threatened.”

He blamed people on both sides, but went on to say: ““We already have power to destroy Russia 40 times over — the deter- ence is already complete. Adding more weapons only adds to the danger, not to our security.”

Speaking on behalf of the Con- gress of Canadian Women, Nan McDonald condemned Canada’s secret signing of the agreement with the USA to test weapons systems, including the Cruise nu- clear missile. The government ‘thas deliberately tied Canada to Reagan’s nuclear war strategy with all its catastrophic danger.”

Stating that a growing number of women are demanding that this , agreement be annulled, $ McDonald urged that ‘‘every 2

member of parliament’’ be given (|

“the clear message’’ of Canadian $ demands for refusing the Cruise, annulling the agreement, and de- claring this country a nuclear weapons-free zone.

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country call upon the federal F government to urge NATO to re- spond favorably to the recent initiatives of the Warsaw Treaty countries that both sign a non-ag- gression pact ...’’ Citing the Soviet pledge never to be first to use nuclear weapons, McDonald said: ‘‘If nuclear weapons states such as the United States, France and Britain make this pledge, a nuclear holocaust will be prevented.”

Dan Heap, New Democratic MP for Spadina, told the crowd that the federal government members are ‘‘not responsible to the people who elected them.” He referred to the overwhelming vote for disarmament in those centres which held referendums last fall.

He said we have to ‘‘tell the government to get out of the arms race.”’ Ourposition, he said, is ‘‘no Cruise testing in Canada, no nuc- lear arms in Canada, and Canada out of NATO and NORAD.”

Opened by Angela Browning, secretary of ACT, who expressed the conviction that “‘the people of Canada, the USA and the Soviet Union want peace,”’ the rally heard greetings from numerous organizations. Among them were the Canadian Peace Congress, Youth Coalition for Peace, the African National Congress (South Africa), and the Canadian Federations of Students-Ontario.

IBUNE PHOTO —

REGINA — Saskatoon had the biggest turnout of the April 23 weekend in people’s actions to denounce Cruise missile testing in Canada. Other Saskatchewan marches and rallies were held in Regina and Prince Albert.

Saskatoon Against the Cruise, sponsors of the march from Uni- versity Bowl to the downtown, which drew 3,000 participants, is made up of peace and church groups, environmental organiza- tions, student associations, pro- fessional and health groups, community committees, the arts, unions and private businesses.

They point out that ‘“Canada’s involvement in the Cruise missile violates both our proclaimed non-nuclear policy within NATO, and acurrent lawsuit claims it vio- lates Article 7 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which gives Canadians the right to life, liberty and security of the per- son, because of the Cruise’s con- tribution to the nuclear arms race.”

It is pointed out that Canada’s agreement to test the Cruise is with the USA and is not a com- mitment to NATO. Examples of

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NATO countnes who have re- fused the Cruise, are Norway, Belgium and Holland, for example.

The Regina rally drew people from a number of rural areas as well as city citizens, to come to- gether 800 strong, to hear speak- ers including Mayor Mark Han- ley, New Democrat MP for Re- gina East, Simon De Jong, Arch- bishops Halpin of the Catholic Church and Peers from the Angli-

can, as well as representatives of labor, and the National Farmers Union.

The protesters marched to the legislature to ask the province to také a stand against the Cruise, but Tory Premier Grant Devine, who has refused to answer letters on the matter, also refused to ad- dress the rally.

A demonstration of 400 persons took place in Prince Albert.

MONTREAL — Midnight, April 22 marked the beginning ofa candlelight march in which 2,000 people, about 85% young people — students, unemployed, etc. — moved from the Universite de Quebec a Montreal (UQAM) to the vast Complex Dejardins on Ste. Catherine St., which houses the U.S. Consulate.

The march came during the same weekend as several other protests across Canada. It fol- lowed by several hours vigils at the UQAM and at Complex Des- jardins.

The main speaker at the Con- sulate rally was Yvon Charbon- neal, president of the Quebec

Teachers’ Federation (CEQ), whose organization was one of those participating in a large anti-Cruise ad in Le Devoir, April 16. Others supporting the ad's campaign against Cruise missile testing in Canada included the Conseil Quebecois de la Paix, the United Electrical Workers Un- ion, Quebec students, numerous members of the National Assem- bly of Quebec, Quebec's widely- known poet and 'troubador, Gille Vigneault and his troupe. the Union of Concert Artists. Montreal protestant School Teachers, and the 4,000-member bicyclists’ organization of Quebec.

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