O, Canada. We stand on guard for thee: as the sixth-largest weapons supplier in the world.

It seems painfully ironic that as November 11 approaches Canada has been pegged as one the world’s top exporters of military goods. So while we are set to remember those who have fought and died for our freedom, it is unfortunate that today we have a hand in supplying tanks, rocket launchers and munitions abroad, some of which fall into the hands of unsavoury characters.

According to a recent report, Canadian arms exports have tripled in what has been called a seven-year surge of $3.6 billion, with our next door neighbour being the biggest buyer.
Of course, Canada is not alone in the business of exporting military goods. The United States led all countries in the sale of conventional arms sales agreements and deliveries last year, according to the Arms Control Association.

What is disturbing, is that Canadian-made goods could be falling into the hands of those who could use the goods for ill gain. Last month, the New York Times reported that 10 Canadian-made engines have wound up in prototypes of China’s Z-10, an attack helicopter designed to carry guided antitank missiles.
According a spokesperson with Pratt & Whitney Canada, the company was given government approval seven years ago to supply engines for use in “a Chinese helicopter that was supposed to have civilian and military variants.

American Rick Fischer, the vice-president of the International Assessment and Strategy Center, suspects the engine is being used in the Z-10 as well as another military chopper.

“Both will be used by the People’s Liberation Army for missions of internal repression and external aggression, particularly against Taiwan,” said Fischer.

CBC news has been tracking Canada’s contributions to “Arming the World.” An in-depth report revealed that more than 500 companies across the country are making defense and security products, their tentacles well entrenched within the Canadian economy.

Tim Page, president of the Canadian Association of Defence and Security Industries, told the CBC that the industry represents 70,000 technology-based jobs in over 177 federal ridings across the country.

A necessary evil? That seems to have become apparent.

But no matter how hard we try we can’t keep Canadian-made weapons from falling into the wrong hands. Ken Epp of Project Ploughshares, an arms control watchdog group, said that there are a number of examples “on regular basis every year” that Canadian exports have ended up in countries such as Columbia, China, Saudi Arabia and others where persistent human rights violations exist.

Small arms continue to be a global problem, not to mention epidemic-sized cause of death worldwide

The Control Arms campaign is calling for an international, legally-binding Arms Trade Treaty to ease the suffering caused by irresponsible weapons transfers. One of the organizations behind the initiative is the International Action Network on Small Arms (IANSA), which tracks guns deaths on its website.

At last check, guns have killed 308,00 people since the beginning of the year. Amnesty International and OXFAM are also behind the Control Arms campaign, which states that “from 1998 to 2001, the USA, the UK, and France earned more income from arms sales to developing countries than they gave in aid.”
Canada is a smaller player in the global arms trade, but complicit nonetheless.

An article by Richard Sanders in regards to Canada’s increased military exports in 1998 takes our country to task on the issue.

“Despite Canada’s reputation as a nation which values peacekeeping, we continue to sell military hardware to governments, which are notorious for violating human rights.  Among the governments purchasing Canadian military hardware are some of the world’s most corrupt and violent regimes.  The military and police forces in many of the countries armed by Canada are well known to routinely engage in torture and extrajudicial executions.”

Our country knows the pain and suffering caused by having her sons cut down in their prime on battlefields abroad. We understand the ongoing need to provide peaceful occupation, even at the risk of death, in places where conflicts exist, often a world-away from our everyday lives. And though military goods continue to play in a role in our economy, the very existence of such business can carry deadly consequences.

That is, after all, the endgame of weapons use. Lest we forget.

© November, 2008. Elmira_Independent. All rights reserved.