Written by: Barbara Waldern

Held since 1998, the CANSEC Convention is an annual trade fair hosted by the Canadian Association of Defence and Security Industries (CADSI) in Ottawa. CANSEC is the perhaps the largest of its kind in Canada. CANSEC’s venue is the EY Centre situated next to the Ottawa MacDonald-Cartier International Airport. Attendance exceeds 10,000 people. Government and military officials meet well over 200 to 300 company reps to make defense contracts on the spot. In fact, the Canadian Minister of Defense opens the three-day event at a welcome breakfast.

Though interrupted by the COVID-19 lockdowns, CANSEC resumed last year and is happening this year on May 31 and June 1. As before, Canadian Defense Minister Anita Anand is expected to give the opening speech.

The war industry on display

Peace activists have always confronted this show of the “military-parliamentary-industrial” complex. The CANSEC website says over 600 attendees will be VIPS, generals, top military & government officials, 74 per cent of which have purchasing power. It states that 47 per cent of attendees will be government officials, and 75 per cent “top executives.”

CAPTION: Protesters outside the building which houses the Canadian Association of Defence and Security Industries in Ottawa on June 2, 2022.

Activists oppose politicians’ blessings and Canada’s involvement in buying and selling items for military use to governments such as Saudi Arabia who is leading a coalition to attack Yemen (this Saudi war may be ending in the near future however, given peace talks between Saudi Arabia and Yemen), Israel who occupies Palestine, and the Philippines whose military regular assaults civilians, especially community leaders, journalist, human rights lawyers and activists and social movement leaders. Canada is likely the second largest arms exporter to West Asian states (i.e., the Middle East).

Having long objected to Canada’s sale of Light Armoured Vehicles (LAVs) to Saudi Arabia, opponents of CANSEC also oppose Canada’s planned purchase of F-35 fighter jets, naval ships and armed drones, for which tens of billions of dollars in taxpayers’ funds could be spent while health care, housing and education get more expensive and less accessible for the typical working, underemployed or unemployed person.

The war industry is always well represented at CANSEC. Major weapons producers hold exhibits, including Pratt & Whitney, BAE Systems, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon Technologies, Polaris Industries, The Boeing Company, and General Dynamics (3: G.D. OTS, G.D. Mission Systems and G.D. Land Systems). Other types of firms provide technical support, from computer companies (HP, IBM, for example), vehicle manufacturers (e.g., Rolls Royce, GM Defence), robotics and aeronautics engineers, to designers, electronics, air transportation (helicopters, Airbus), communications (Bell, Blackberry), shipbuilders (Irving Shipbuilding Inc.) and other engineers (SNC Lavalin Defence Programs).

Canadian companies among those at this trade fair are no less innocent than others. Here are examples of direct involvement in acts of aggression. (Collected and shared by World Beyond War.)

General Dynamics Land Systems-Canada - makes the billions of dollars of Light Armoured Vehicles (tanks) Canada exports to Saudi Arabia
L3Harris Technologies - now bidding to sell armed drones to Canada to drop bombs overseas and surveil Canadian protests
Colt Canada - sells guns to the RCMP, including C-IRG, the militarized RCMP unit terrorizing Indigenous land defenders in service of oil and logging companies.
Raytheon Technologies – builds the missiles that will arm Canada’s new Lockheed Martin F-35 warplanes

Protests

With one cluster of activists groups having held a national conference in Ottawa just after the CANSEC days last year, almost 200 protesters arrived at the EY Centre on June 1, 2022, early in the morning, despite a cold rainfall, and were able to block the road and delay the opening proceedings. The Ottawa Police broke up the roadway convergences every quarter hour. Though scheduled to present her speech at 8:00 a.m. that day, Minister Anand kept her distance until the protesters dispersed after 10:00 a.m. The protesters considered they had thus successfully made a significant presence and disrupted CANSEC.

CAPTION: EY Centre, Ottawa, on June 1, 2022

A similar people’s mobilization is under way now. The main protest will be at the conference venue, the EY Centre, on the morning of May 31. The leading slogan is “Shut Down CANSEC!”

CAPTION: shared image for the CANSEC protest in 2023

An informal committee of organizations began meeting in February to collaborate on a plan of action at CANSEC. Those attending the planning meetings conferred virtually from their coast-to-coast residences, though, naturally, the bulk of the organizers are based in Ottawa and surrounding regions, from Toronto and other southern Ontario communities to Montreal. They represent the: Ottawa Peace Council, World Beyond War (Ottawa and Montreal), Just Peace Advocates (Montreal), the Canadian Voice of Women for Peace in various cities, Ottawa Quakers, the Anti-Imperialist Alliance (Ottawa), Just Peace Committee (Vancouver) and the Canadian Chapter of the International League of Peoples’ Struggles (ILPS-Vancouver, Winnipeg, Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal). The opposition to CANSEC in all its forms is supported by the Canada-Wide Peace and Justice Network, to which most of the above-named groups belong, boasting around 45 associated organizations based in all provinces.

As in the past, various leftists and other peace groups are expected to join the CANSEC protest at the venue; they might include the Communist Party of Canada, the Marxist-Leninist Party of Canada, the Hamilton Coalition to Stop the War, the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, Socialist Action, peace councils in Toronto and Kingston, the Palestinian Youth Movement, Gabriela, Anakbayan and Migrante.

At the February 27, 2023, planning meeting, lead volunteer coordinator, Brent Patterson of World Beyond War, summed up the CANSEC 2023 action’s objective this way:

“Our protest is a practical act to disrupt or annoy CANSEC-goers and not allow this trade fair to carry on its ‘business as usual’ without resistance. (...) CANSEC is a rare opportunity to obstruct the Canadian, international and US-based arms trades and politicians who support them.”

Demonstrators will gather early on the first day of CANSEC to form a blockade. In addition, there was discussion to prepare education and outreach to inspire and inform the youth, workers and peace activists. The lead-up activities discussed by this meeting were promotional materials, props (slogans, graphics, posters), social media campaigns, fundraising, media releases and protests. Regarding related protests, the meeting talked about forming opposition to US President Joe Biden’s visit to Ottawa and joining in Stop the War on Yemen protest in March. During the trade show, there will be protests in cities beyond Ontario, such as an action in Vancouver by the ILPS.

Building Solidarity

Several of the anti-CANSEC groups formed the “Host Committee” to receive US President Joe Biden who was in Ottawa on March 23 and 24. They protested at the USA Embassy there, taking advantage of the occasion to make it a lead up event to the CANSEC protests in early June 2023, serving as a kind of rehearsal.

CAPTION: A committee of groups opposed to the visit of US President Joe Biden demonstrated on the streets of Ottawa on March 24, 2023.

The Canadian and USA Chapters of the League of Peoples’ Struggles and the Resist US-Led War Coalition in the US are united. ILPS-Canada composed a statement to denounce President Biden’s visit to Canada, released on March 24, 2023. It concludes as follows:

“The ILPS in Canada unites with all of those who are continuing to resist the expansion of the war machine and imperialist interventions by Canada and the United States. We call on those who are able to participate in mobilizations against Biden’s visit to Canada this week, and also against the CANSEC arms fair, which has been called North America’s biggest weapons show, on May 31 and June 1.”

Another precursor to the CANSEC protests intends to attract and galvanize more popular forces was the Palestine Liberation Conference from April 28 to 30. It brought together Indigenous, Black, Palestinian and workers’ liberation movements by allowing multiple voices on multiple issues by making connections. The conference began by holding a Palestine forum followed by a discussion of other liberation movements on the second day, and ended with a march for “collective liberation” through Ottawa on Nakba Day, April 30.

Furthermore, the CANSEC activities complement the programs and calls of the Canada-Wide Peace and Justice Network (CWJPN) to Get Canada out of NATO, No New Fighter Jets and Fund Peace, Not War. The 2023 ILPS-Canada program called “War is a racket, no wars for profit” is centred on participation in the actions against CANSEC. There are many discussions on related topics raised by CWPJN members coming up through the year.

This preparation to protest CANSEC is an example of the will and energy being put into solidarity among activists who share similar concerns in various parts of the world. There is a desire to provide dialogue and allow democratic relations while working toward some common understanding of the urgent problems before humanity. No doubt this mindset about organizing political action is driven by the awareness of the all-sided crisis and real danger of nuclear and world war. Broad unity in struggle is gravely needed to have some chance at stopping wars and ending the arms trade.

Editor’s note: The Canada Files is the country's only news outlet focused on Canadian foreign policy. We've provided critical investigations & hard-hitting analysis on Canadian foreign policy since 2019, and need your support.
Please consider setting up a monthly or annual donation through Donorbox.

Barbara Waldern is a peace activist residing in Metro Vancouver, BC, who, holding a Masters in social science, has worked in international educational support services.

More Articles

Featured