Stop Military Recruitment of High School Students
Fight Climate Change Not War!
In 2021, Canada spent 15x more money on the Department of Defence than on Department of Environment and Climate Change ($29.3 billion CAD[1] vs. $1.7 billion CAD).
The Department of Defence contributes to half of the federal government's greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. It’s by far the federal government’s biggest single GHG emitter.[2]
Military emissions are exempt from the federal GHG emissions reduction target.[3]
Canada out of NATO!
Canada currently spends 1.4% of its GDP on the military, but as a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), Canada pledges to boost military spending to 2% of its GDP, which would require adding an additional $75.3 billion by 2027 to the defence budget.
To meet NATO obligations, Canada commits to spending $77 billion on purchasing and operating 88 new fighter jets.
As part of NATO, Canada participated in the illegal bombing of Yugoslavia (1999)[4], illegal invasion and occupation of Afghanistan (2001-2014), and led the bombing campaign of Libya (2011).
Outside of the US, Canada sells more weapons to Saudi Arabia than any other country — despite the bloody Saudi-led invasion of Yemen.
End Student Military Recruitment
Military recruitment in Canada is in "crisis," with 10% of positions unfilled.
The Canadian Armed Forces offers "free" tuition to take advantage of high school students who can't afford expensive tuition
To increase recruitment, the military is targeting women despite rampant sexual violence (a quarter of women in the Canadian military report being sexually assaulted).
Notes:
[1] The 2021 Budget for the Department of Defence is broken down by funding sought through the Main Estimates process (83% of total, $24.3 billion CAD) and funding sought outside of the Main Estimates process (17% of total, ~ $5 billion CAD).
[2] In the 2020-2021 fiscal year, the Department of Defence reported 477 kilotonnes of greenhouse gas emissions. All federal facilities combined reported a total of 975 kilotonnes of greenhouse gas emissions, meaning the Department of Defence contributed 48.9% of all emissions. Public services and Procurement Canada comes in second at 12.1%; Correctional Service Canada in third at 11.4%; and the RCMP in fourth at 6.2%.
[3] From canada.ca, “[t]he 40% and 90% absolute emission reduction targets do not apply to the National Safety and Security (NSS) fleet,” which is comprised of “aircraft, marine vessels, and tactical land vehicles from Department of Defence, RCMP and Coast Guard.”
[4] Illegal from an international perspective because the NATO bombing mission in Yugoslavia did not received authorization from the UN Security Council. Canada’s participation in Afghanistan is illegal for the same reason.
