by NOEMI LOPINTO

Three local activists with a demonstrated resistance to black bouts of depression will be taking part in a debate on May 27 to discuss Canada's non-role in the U.S.'s proposed Anti-Ballistic Missile Shield (BMS). The discussion, entitled "BMS and Canada's Participation in U.S. Hegemony," is open to the public. Speaking will be Louis Marchildon, a Université du Québec à Trois-Rivieres professor and member of Science for Peace, Raymond Legault from Objection Conscience and Sara Kemp, coordinator of the Canadian Campaign Against the Anti-Missile Shield. The event is being organized by the Centre de Justice et de Foi.

Anti-ballistic missile proliferation was briefly slowed by the signing of the Anti-Ballistic Nuclear Missile Treaty, ratified in 1972. But in 2002, the Bush administration withdrew its participation in the ABM treaty. In January 2001, at a United Nations-sponsored conference on disarmament, the U.S and Israel were the only countries to refuse to re-sign the Outer Space Treaty, on the use of space for peaceful purposes only. Since then, Legault says research by Canadian corporations into anti-missile technology is going ahead as if it was official policy. "There are public statements and there is reality, " says Legault. "Canadian corporations are authorized to conduct research on missile defence, even though Canada has not officially endorsed it. This has been going on for years."

Dubious technological claims

Ideology aside, the movement behind BMS is largely composed of corporations. Bombardier, SNC-Lavalin, Lockheed-Martin and GM Canada are a few of the big names. But Marchildon says the missile-thwarting technology probably doesn't even work. "When a missile is fired, its trajectory can be divided into three different parts: propulsion, ballistic trajectory [out of the atmosphere] and then re-entry and explosion."

When a missile is fired, radars and satellites must accurately compute its trajectory, transmit the information to interceptors, which then are fired in the hopes that they will hit the incoming missile and destroy it on impact. "Some of the radars needed to track the incoming missile are not yet ready," says Marchildon. "No test, to my knowledge, has been done in realistic conditions. In the tests that have been done, the trajectory had been pre-programmed on the interceptor. By all military standards the system is not ready yet. Even if it were ready, anyone firing a missile would presumably have installed a number of deceptive measures to fool the opponent. Decoys spread around the missile, shrouds of low-temperature gas that prevent the infrared sensors from seeing them and so on."

Creeping weaponization

The Canadian Council of Chief Executives (CCCE), an organization composed of 150 chief executive officers of leading Canadian businesses, has come out as a proponent of BMS. The CCCE published a paper in April 2004 entitled "New Frontiers: Building a 21st Century Canada-United States Partnership in North America," which states, "BMS would not involve the weaponization of space, and... arguments about whether Canada would be contributing to a new arms race are moot because the United States already has decided to proceed... If Canada wishes to have any say in its future development, it is in our interest to be an active partner."

Legault argues that the weaponization of space is clearly part of the program. "Given the [Americans'] overall trend of refusing limitations on chemical, nuclear and biological weapons, of signing treaties only if they are exempt from inspections, there is a clear message: we have the weapons and do not accept limitations on their use. This is not a defensive posture. People know about the GPS [global positioning system], but they don't know about military GPS system, which is much more accurate. It is used to guide missiles and to check if targets have been hit. So space is highly militarized already. But what countries have the long-range missile technology? Very, very few. There are a whole lot of signs at the economic and military level that this is a period of expansion of U.S. hegemony over the world, presented in benevolent terms, but having pretty horrific consequences."

The lecture will take place on Thursday, May 27, from 7 Pm to 9 pm at Maison Bellarmin (25 Jarry W.).
For more info, call 387-2541.