Urge Selkirk College to decline invitation to participate in the military industry.
The Canadian government recently announced an $81.8-billion investment in the Canadian Armed Forces which includes $6.6 billion toward Canada’s Defence Industrial Strategy. The DIS pledges to increase military exports by half and to more than double revenues from the sale of arms - and has invited Canada’s post-secondary institutions to help meet these goals.
Selkirk College is considering joining a program called the College Defence Training and Innovation Network, via CICan (Colleges and Institutes Canada). It is still unclear what partnering with the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) might look like for Selkirk College. Some Canadian colleges are already partnering to deliver training to cyber-operators; building and flying drones, terrestrial rovers and submersible robots in labs; expanding training on AI-powered tools (which may include armed drones) and unmanned weapons systems. All of which the Canadian government is currently selling to the US, Israel, and other genocidal colonial entities.
Inviting the military industry to set up shop in the Kootenays contradicts our shared community values of peace and sustainability. Short-sided financial security, in exchange for supporting the sale of arms and training soldiers, is a disturbing invitation that we must urge Selkirk College to decline. Educational institutions should have no role in the war machine. Furthermore, creating training programs to expand the armed forces, while Selkirk College continues to cut programs in humanities, sciences, arts, and trades - sells out students and college staff - and puts our local economy even more at risk in the long term.
There are so many devastating policies being implemented by the Carney government - restrictions on our civil liberties, resource extraction that disregards the climate emergency and Indigenous land rights, irresponsible growth of industry and the military under the guise of security and economic stability, and continued support of genocidal wars of choice.
For more information, visit www.selkirksayno.com
Nelson4Palestine urges all citizens of conscience to speak up now to help keep Selkirk College a military free zone.
Now is the time to speak up and say NO everywhere we can. Contact Selkirk college BEFORE JUNE 30th, let’s be loud!
* College President
Magie Matear mmatear@selkirk.ca
* Selkirk Board of Governors info@selkirk.ca
Post: 301 Frank Beinder Way, Castlegar, BC, V1N 4L3
What kinds of concerns do advocates of peace & sustainability have about this strategy?
“Beating ploughshares back into swords”: The DIS is a plan to intentionally, transparently profit from a war economy. A national – or institutional – economic growth strategy that is designed to capture the economic advantages of war ultimately depends on the continuation of war.
The DIS is only partly about defence or protecting Canadian sovereignty.The DIS will not remove the “51st state” threat, nor insulate us from the US sphere of influence and pressure to align politically. Growing our military capability could increase the likelihood and extent of our involvement in wars that are not at all defensive in nature, including US-led wars of choice.
The DIS will necessitate finding more foreign buyers for Canadian-made military equipment and munitions and risks increasing global conflict. The DIS calls for a 50% increase in military exports. This is very likely to increase weapons sales to known human rights abusers. This is not something any college (never mind one with a peace centre) should be profiting from.
This massive investment in military industrial production effectively takes money away from areas where we need more investment – health care, education, housing – and where investment produces more jobs. Military expenditures offer low returns on investment, especially in terms of job creation. It is unclear what benefits this strategy will bring to the college sector, or to Selkirk specifically, and it is possible that there will be a net cost to the sector from this shift of government priorities.
The Defence Industrial Strategy will exacerbate climate change, not help us survive it. Military activities are among the most fossil-fuel intensive on the planet.
