Peace, Earth & Justice Logo Peace, Earth & Justice News

Archives   Contact   Festival   Links   News  Tools  Walk  Week

PEJ News (www.pej.ca) Site Map


Nuclear Ship Lawsuit Affidavit

I, Eric Fawcett, Professor of Physics in the University of Toronto, Vice-President of Science for Peace, of the City of Toronto, Province of Ontario, MAKE OATH AND SAY AS FOLLOWS:

  1. THAT I have taught physics at the University of Toronto for 21 years, and engaged in research in physics over my professional career of 37 years. I have no special expertise in nuclear technology, but any professional physicist becomes familiar with the basic principles of nuclear propulsion and nuclear weapons, and I have in particular worked at the Chalk River Laboratories of Atomic Energy of Canada, at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory of the U.S. Department of Energy, and at Brookhaven National Laboratory in New York State, where I performed neutron-scattering experiments.

  2. THAT I was founding President of Science for Peace in February, 1981, and I am now Vice-President of this National Organization and also Education Director of its Toronto Chapter. In these capacities I have been involved for ten years in research and public education, and reporting our findings to decision-makers, concerning peace and conflict and the terrible consequences of 40 years of Cold War following two World Wars, with 125 hot wars claiming tens of millions of victims in the third world during this period of so-called peace.

  3. THAT my brief biography is appended as Exhibit "A" to this affadavit.

  4. THAT a document entitled "Working Group on Militarism and the Environment" is appended as Exhibit "B" to this affadavit. This document describes the project undertaken by Science for Peace to be presented at the United Nations Conference on the Environment and Development in Brazil, June 1992. It includes "some examples and statistics by way of illustrating the enormity of the negative effects that are attributable to our addiction to military power". These global effects threaten the future of all Canadians as citizens of the world. The continued maintenance of massive navies, armed with large numbers of nuclear weapons capable of inflicting unimaginable destruction to the planet and its peoples; showing no sign whatsoever of retracting in the face of collapse of the Soviet Union, the only opponent similarly armed; and consuming the financial and human resources needed to address the manifold current threats to the marine environment: these manifestations of unbridled militarism are, in the 1990s, themselves the greatest threat to humankind, while ironically claiming to protect us from phantasmagoric threats.

  5. THAT I have examined the affadavit of DR. FREDERICK KNELMAN and wish to endorse the points developed therein: the risk to the population and the environment of porting nuclear-capable and nuclear-powered vessels should be assessed by the same criteria employed before making decisions about the construction of civil nuclear facilities, with the U.S. and U.K. naval authorities being required to supply the necessary information; that the claim by the Canadian government that they are required by their NATO commitment to provide these porting facilities to U.S. and U.K. nuclear-capable and nuclear-powered vessels is manifestly specious and hypocritical-- no such commitment has been made by NATO members, and there is strong suspicion these visits are made under the terms of secret bilateral military agreements;

Send email to Vancouver Island Peace Society
Nuclear Ship Lawsuit Affidavit Index
Victoria Peace Centre homepage.

Rainbow Line

Sunshine Communications logo   Powered by SunshineCommunications.ca

WWW pej.ca