Letters

Montreal, Quebec

Visiting in Vancouver on Dec. 14, my wife and I crowded into a downtown hotel ballroom at 8 am with nearly 700 others to witness one of the downlinks of a historic event — the first live teleconference with simultaneous transmission from five continents. The occasion was the presentation of the Beyond War Award for the Five Conti­nent Peace Initiative to its leaders: Raul Alfonsin (Argentina), Rajiv Gandhi (India), Miguel de la Madrid (Mexico), Julius Nyerere(Tanzania), Olaf Palme (Sweden) and Andreas Papandreou (Greece).

The early hour in Vancouver was neces­sary because the program spanned thir­teen time zones. (It was late evening in India.) Nine satellites were re­quired for the hook-up which was co­ordinated by Beyond War president, Richard Rathbun, in San Francisco.

– Ross Smyth

Ottawa, Ontario

Canadian Student Pugwash is a university based, educational organization concerned with social and ethical issues arising from science and its technological applications.

We have an information service which at present is preparing the first in a series of directories, tentatively titled Defence and Arms Control. Canadian Student Pugwash is hoping to provide, in an easily accessible form, sources of information on the social and ethical implications of military research and development in the areas of defence and arms control.

— Susan M’Gonigle Information Service Coordinator Arcola, Saskatehewan

On Dec. 17 and 18 in early morning the noise of jets filled the air over this little town in southeast Saskat­chewan, great looped patterns of jet trails marked the sky and fighting craft were clearly visible. An ex-Air Forces man I met on my way to work exclaimed, “They’re not ours because we don’t have any like that.”

I phoned my MLA, who knew nothing of the incident. His office even­tually determined that NORAD was con­ducting “exercises” in the area, but that command headquarters at Moose Jaw and North Bay declined to discuss the matter.

I expect that urban people are not subject to such events because of the regular air traffic. I also expect that they are not aware that such events are occurring in rural areas.

A thank-you to all the scientists who are turning their efforts towards° the well-being of mankind and not to making new weapons of ever-greater de­structive power. And thank-you to those responsible for publishing the informative Science for Peace Bulletin.

“And what kind of a world would this be if everyone decided not to get involved?”

Ottawa, Ontario

I thought you might be interested in the report of the Consultative Group on Canada’s role in multila­teral fora. You will notice that the concept of verification figures strongly in the report. I also enclose the Canadian resolution on verifica­tion which was adopted by consensus (both US and USSR participating) in the UN Disarmament Committee. This was a breakthrough and reflects the Canadian government’s emphasis on verification work as a positive con­tribution to arms control agreements. Furthermore, on Dec.4 the government’s study on chemical weapons monitoring was presented to the Secretary General of the UN.

– Douglas Roche, Ambassador (Editor’s note: The report and a copy of the resolution are availa­ble from the Dept. for External Affairs, 125 Promenade Sussex Drive, Ottawa KlA 0G2.

Sitting in the Consultative Group were SfP members Norman Alcock, Ronald Babin, Dr. Donald Bates, Paul Cappon,Dianne DeMille,William Epstein, Franklyn Griffith,, and George Ignatieff.)

I am organizing nuclear Awareness Units for 60 grade 12 students at Laurier Secondary School, and I have discovered that appropriate materials are hard to find. I would appreciate anything dealing with the nuclear age which you could send me free of charge.

Brian McHenry Sir Wilfred Laurier Secondary School, 450 Millbank Drive London, Ont. N6C 4W7