ACTION ALERT: Demand a stop to military integration with the U.S.

February 27, 2008

As reported by the CanWest News Service this weekend, Canada and the U.S. have signed a new military agreement called the Civil Assistance Plan. It is an initiative of the Bi-National Planning Group whose final report, issued in June 2006, called for the creation of a “Comprehensive Defense and Security Agreement,” or a “continental approach” to Canada-U.S. defense and security.

The extent of military integration called for by the BNP is unprecedented and has received absolutely no debate publicly or in the House of Commons. But it is still surprising that Prime Minister Harper instructed Canada Command not to publicly announce the new Civil Assistance Plan. Canadians must go to the Northern Command website to see any evidence of the new agreement.

According to the NORTHCOM press release, the plan “allows the military from one nation to support the armed forces of the other nation during a civil emergency.”

“Unity of effort during bilateral support for civil support operations such as floods, forest fires, hurricanes, earthquakes and effects of a terrorist attack, in order to save lives, prevent human suffering and mitigate damage to property, is of the highest importance, and we need to be able to have forces that are flexible and adaptive to support rapid decision-making in a collaborative environment,” said U.S. Air Force Gen. Gene Renuart, commander of North American Aerospace Defense Command and U.S. Northern Command.

As written in the BNP final report: “During the SPP meeting in 2005, all three North American leaders described the security and prosperity of our nations as ‘mutually dependent and complimentary.’ This evidenced the intent of our national leaders to move towards a continental approach to defense and security.”

THE DEMAND

You are encouraged to send your own version of the following message to Prime Minister Stephen Harper (pm@pm.gc.ca), Stephane Dion (Dion.S@parl.gc.ca), Jack Layton (Layton.J@parl.gc.ca) and Gilles Duceppe (Duceppe.G@parl.gc.ca) using the form below.

For extensive information about the Security and Prosperity Partnership, please go to the 'Integrate This! Challenging the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America' website at www.IntegrateThis.ca.

Stuart Trew, researcher, Council of Canadians

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SEND YOUR LETTER NOW:

Subject
Recipients	pm@pm.gc.ca; Dion.S@parl.gc.ca; Layton.J@parl.gc.ca; Duceppe.G@parl.gc.ca
Compose your letter in the box below.
Prime Minister Harper, I'm am very concerned about a new military agreement signed between Canada and the United States that will allow, and perhaps encourage, the deployment of U.S. troops on Canadian soil during certain natural disasters and potential terrorist attacks. I cannot imagine a scenario in which U.S. troops would form a necessary part of any civil emergency, terrorist or otherwise. If it's a natural disaster, we have proven we have the capability to respond on our own. Even in the case of a potential terrorist attack, the response should be civilian - it would be a matter for the local and national police forces to handle. Why were Canadians not consulted prior to the signing of this new Civil Assistance Plan between U.S. Northern Command and Canada Command? And why did we only find out about it from the NORTHCOM website. According to newspaper reports, the Canadian government has no intention of issuing a press release about the plan. Why such secrecy on a matter of such enormous importance to Canadians? The Civil Assistance Plan appears to be a component of the Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP), which has as one goal the establishment of a continental emergency response program focused on protecting infrastructure, pipelines and other economic assets the U.S. considers vital to its own national security. In fact, the Bi-National Planning Group, which developed the Civil Assistance Plan, says explicitly in its final report that the SPP is designed to bring Canadian and American military, security, economic and foreign policies even closer together. Canada needs a full public and parliamentary debate on this new Civil Assistance Plan, military integration, and the SPP's broader goals of economic and security integration with the United States. Without this debate, you and your government have no democratic mandate for continuing the SPP discussion with Presidents Bush and Calderon next month in New Orleans. I look forward to your response. Sincerely,
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