La déclaration suivante a été publiée dans le journal Le Devoir du 3 novembre 2018. Elle a été signée par 33 organisations et 165 personnes, lesquelles ont contribué à défrayer les coûts de sa publication. Here is the English version.
The Collectif Échec à la guerre is presently conducting its 8th annual white poppy campaign. At a time when wars are claiming countless – mostly civilian – victims, individuals and organizations have come together to make the following commitment:
- Because for decades wars have been taking many more civilian lives than combatants, and those millions of men, women and children are overlooked in the official Remembrance Day ceremonies
- Because the number of people uprooted by war, violence and persecution around the world has grown for the fifth consecutive year and now stands at a record 68.5 million
- Because Canada’s alleged “new role” in the world is a sham, given that Canada has increased its troop levels in Latvia and Iraq, has announced a 70% hike in military spending over 10 years, and is making record arms sales to Saudi Arabia, a country that is one of the world’s worst human rights offenders and is also engaged in a horrific war in Yemen that has caused what the UN calls “the world’s worst humanitarian crisis”
- Because we demand a radical shift in Canada’s foreign policy, including an end to subservience to the American empire, withdrawal from NATO and refusal to participate in the global arms trade
We the undersigned are wearing the white poppy to show our opposition to Canada’s militarist policies and to commemorate all victims of wars.