Opposition to 92nd Ottawa Conference on Security and Defence
While the world is witnessing the starvation of children and impending famine throughout Gaza in the U.S./Israeli genocide of the Palestinian people, the Conference of Defence Associations (CDA) held the 92nd Ottawa Conference on Security and Defence on March 7-8 in Ottawa.
The Palestinian Youth Movement organized an emergency action to denounce the two-day conference. Demonstrators gathered at the Human Rights Monument and marched to the Chateau Laurier where the warmongering conference was taking place. They condemned the discussions taking place there and the plans being made by the weapons manufacturers who supply the arms for the genocide against the Palestinian people.
Among the 2,000 registered guests at the conference were Members of Parliament, senior public servants from 20 different government departments and agencies, foreign dignitaries, a large delegation of senior personnel from the Canadian Armed Forces and the Department of National Defence, as well as people from industry and academia. One of the "invited guests" was Uzi Arad, National Security Advisor to Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu, speaking on the "complexities of the Israel-Gaza war." Demonstrators clearly stated that there is nothing complex about the Israeli occupation of Palestine and the genocide in which Canada is complicit. People shouted Stop Hosting Zionists! Arms Embargo Now!
The CDA represents over 50 military associations including the Naval Association of Canada, the Canadian Infantry Association, the Royal Canadian Legion and the Military Intelligence Association. It is run by former high-ranking military officers, including individuals with close ties to arms manufacturers. For example, Paul Manson, CDA Institute President between 2004 and 2008, was the Chief of the Defence Staff under the Mulroney government from 1986 to 1989, then chairman of the board of Lockheed Martin Canada. A Canadian extension of the U.S. military-industrial complex, the CDA organizes conferences on security and defence issues, lobbies for military spending increases, publishes papers on defence strategy, and funds research on university campuses that is supportive of its aims.
Since its inception the CDA has been indirectly or directly financed by the Department of National Defence. It also receives funding from corporate sources, primarily arms manufacturers and military service providers. Its 2015 conference in Ottawa received "generous support of General Dynamics, NATO and the Department of National Defense ADA Group, Boeing Canada, Ernst and Young, Porter, Rheinmetall, United Technologies, AUG Signals."
Previous annual conferences received the backing of Lockheed Martin Canada, ATCO Structures & Logistics and Irving Shipbuilding.
This article was published in
Volume 54
Number 17 - March 12, 2024
Article Link:
https://cpcml.ca/Tmlm2024/Articles/MS54177.HTM
Website: www.cpcml.ca Email: editor@cpcml.ca