Canadian federal government, to test torpedoes and secret weapons at

Nanoose Bay, north of Nanaimo, British Columbia at the Canadian Forces

Maritime Experimental Test Ranges (CFMETR).  Most Canadians, including

most British Columbians, know nothing about the existence of the CFMETR;

indeed, it is not even mentioned in school.  Only recently has Nanoose Bay

come to the public's attention pushed by rising protests by fishers,

environmentalists, peace activists, local politicians, including BC premier

Glen Clark, among others.  The most consistent group opposed to CFMETR

is probably the Nanoose Bay Conversion Campaign who seek to educate the

public on the benefits of conversion, not a close down, of Nanoose and the

drawbacks, economically, environmentally, socially, and politically, of its

existence as a testing site.

billion per year.  True, CFMETR brings in about 5 times more than that plus

it provides jobs but the U.S. Pentagon has admitted that its studies of the

area found that about twice the jobs can be created per dollar if Nanoose was

converted to a civilian base, not to mention the environmental benefits that

the change would bring.  It has even been stated by top U.S. and Canadian

officals that Nanoose's future, with the end of the "Cold War," is in doubt;

not so much because Canada and the U.S. are not engaged in wars for both

are very imperialistic, especially in its backing of corporate interests,

particularly in the developing world, like Canada in its secret war against

East Timor and the U.S. in its arms sales to Latin America, but because the

Canadian public is not totally stupid.  Justifications for the CFMETR are

getting old and stale, throwbacks to the 1940's, 50's, and 60's.  Who is going

to attack North America, or any industrialized country for that matter?  The

only wars going on are local in nature, albeit with international, political

implications.  Most of the wars are either between ethnic groups, as in

Bosnia, civil war, or industrialized countries invading small countries for

imperialistic purposes.  In the case of the latter, it is usually indirect.  For

instance, arms sales to the local army to quell resistance that may be harmful

to international investment as the U.S. has done in Peru, selling arms to the

government who has, in turn, created death squads, confirmed by the United

Nations to exist in that country, that seek out and murder "dissidents" or

"prospective dissidents."  Hence, except for industrial countries being the

aggressors, nobody will even think of attacking them, and as provokers they

have the ability to help end the threat of international conflict by setting an

example and start doing away with arms. Most arms are, afterall,

manufactured and supplied, directly or indirectly, by industrial

countries.  Even if a world war was to begin, it would end in days with

everyone being nuked to death by a push of a button, no military

required.  (this whole latter part about war is, of course, crudely stated but

no less true and relevant to Nanoose.  For more info. visit PEACENET or

Victoria Peace Net)

most are illegal.  What's illegal about them?  It is not the actions themselves

that are illegal but their aftermaths.  The U.S. navy, according to a

Department of National Defence (DND) environmental report, illegally

dumps tons of lead, lithium sulphate batteries, and miles of copper wire into

Nanoose Bay per year.  16.4 kilograms of lead ballast is released in a long,

straight streak whenever a torpedo, each costing about $1 million, is fired

from a submarine; the lead is released in order to allow the torpedo to be

traced and recovered, and this lead is then left to drift to the bay's bottom

along with miles of copper wire, also used, in conjunction with the lead, to

trace the torpedo.  

chemical (lithium), are used to power self-scuttling acoustical sonobuoys

which are used to oversee the subs during testing.  These batteries are then

dumped into Nanoose Bay, over 2000 a year.  

or marine products originating in B.C. as it may contain high levels of toxins

which can be very harmful, even fatal.  Indeed, one should be careful when

buying any B.C. food product since marine life, ie., salmon, is consumed by

many mammals which are killed for sale in the local and world market.  As

the DND stated, "the marine resources in the test area of CFMETR are quite

rich, exemplified by the presence of maturing chum and coho salmon, which

feed extensively in the area...the accumulation of contaminants from torpedo

guidance wire, sonobuoys, and lead weights may have a negative impact on

the food chain."

Canadian government is not only unwilling to investigate complaints of such

activities but is also denying that it can do anything about it anyways.  As

Dixie Sullivan, the employee of Environment Canada responsible for issuing

permits allowing dumping of contaminants into the sea (yes, in Canada you

can buy pollution rights making safety negligible in the face of corporate

profits) said, "they (CFMETR) aren't required to apply for a dumping

permit, and we don't issue one...their activities are deemed to be incidental to

vessel operations and don't fall under the Environmental Protection Act."

actually act on these allegations of illegal dumping by the navy is furthered

illustrated by the comments of Lee Nikl of the Department of Fisheries who

said that the Fisheries Act does outlaw dumping of anything that can be

"deleterious" into the water but that the Act "is not the vehicle for stopping

dumping by the military.  This is a political issue and has to be dealt with on

that level."  Well guess what...the Fisheries Act is political, it was passed by

the legislature making it a law...ENFORCE IT!  Clearly, the will of the

officials is not to force the navy to assume responsibilty for helping to

destroy B.C.'s environment but to help the U.S. military-industrial-complex

(made up of a multitude of corporations in various economic sectors)

members earn huge profits.  After all, all these "scientific" military weapons

being tested at Nanoose are created by private corporations and then, once

tested, sold to U.S. allies worldwide, including Israel and South Korea.  Who

get the profits but none other than these corporations...and partly at

Canadian tax payer expense--$2 billion per year--and at the denial of jobs

(see above).

levels of Canadian authority, including law.  In 1995, the Supreme court

essentially threw out an attempt by the Vancouver Island Peace Society to

force the DND to carry out a full investigation of navy activities.  However,

the court case drew just enough media coverage which "encouraged" the

DND to hire David Green of Carmanah Consultants to "test" a sample from

the bottom of the bay.  This was a very unscientific study since only a small

sample was taken from a "selected" area; Green concluded that although

several toxins, including high levels of lead, were found in the sample, it

posed no risk to marine or human life.  No further studies were conducted by

the DND.  

expired in 1996 but the testing is still happening.  A new agreement is

expected to be signed sometime near the end of October or early November

of 1997, and both the DND and the U.S. navy want it signed.  As stated

earlier, opposition to Nanoose is mounting but if history repeats itself, this

will mean nothing to the government of Canada and a new agreement lasting

until 2006 will probably be signed.  But who knows, the public has won out

before and maybe this time it will also.

usually centre around 3 issues.  Firstly, Nanoose provides jobs; but as we

have seen, conversion can create twice the jobs per dollar spent.

Canada.  This is a very BIG lie!  Historically, the U.S. has done nothing but

come to Canada and take whatever resources it needed, bring it back to the

U.S. and manufactured there. Today, U.S. companies are more and more

turning to developing countries for labour, denying even Americans of

specialized, secondary industry jobs.  Also, the U.S. has not protected

Canada but rather American economic interests.  They own most of the

Canadian economy and the U.S. has historically used Canada as a vehicle

from which threaten its enemies. For instance, the U.S. installed missles

pinted at the USSR in Canada's north during the "Cold War" because the

USSR was supposedly pointing them at North America (this has long been

proven false, the USSR never had missles aimed at North America except for

a few days during the Cuban Missile Crisis, and from Cuba).  The list of U.S.

using Canada to fulfill its own interests goes on..these is but a few.

against attack.  Attack?  From whom?  The U.S. is the one waging war

against others, as it has done in Latin America since the end of World War

II.  Nobody has the capabilities to attack North America right now and this

will change only if the U.S. continues to sell arms abroad and that is part of

the reason why Nanoose is in existence--test U.S. weapons for sale abroad.  It

has absolutely nothing to do with "protecting" Canadians!

Canadian resources, many of them used to manufacture weapons. Canada

has not benefitted from its relationship with the U.S.. Canada has lost 1.4

million jobs since 1988, 500,000 of them in manufacturing, to U.S.

corporations moving to Latin America.  Although this is also a reflection of

the power of corporations in the global economy. (more on that another

time).

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