Canada and the Audacity of a Ban on Nuclear Weapons
April 19th, 2021The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) arrived in 2017 as a new and audacious addition to the nuclear arms control and disarmament landscape. It has not been an altogether comfortable fit – generating both ardent support and fierce opposition, with NATO notably aligned with the latter. The most recent iteration of Canada’s opposition to the TPNW offers but two basic criticisms: 1) “the Treaty does not contain credible provisions for monitoring and verification” of disarmament; 2) “the Treaty’s provisions are inconsistent with Canada’s collective defense obligations” as a member of NATO. The Simons Foundation.
To bridge these divides, both sides would benefit from a clearer appreciation for what the new treaty does not and does bring to the central commitment that supporters and critics alike continue to profess – namely, the pursuit of a world without nuclear weapons. Continue reading at