Halifax mayor reluctant to add name to Mayors for Peace petition
By MELANIE PATTEN The Canadian Press | 5:23 AM
The mayor of Halifax says he does not want to embarrass the Canadian Forces by joining an
international group opposed to nuclear weapons.
On Thursday, peace activists presented Peter Kelly with a petition and a letter from Tadatoshi
Akiba, the mayor of Hiroshima, Japan, urging him to join Mayors for Peace.
Hiroshima was devastated by a nuclear bomb on Aug. 6, 1945.
Halifax, which has a large naval base and a long and colourful military history, has been
exploring the issue, said Kelly.
But he said the city remains reluctant to join the group, which already has the support of nearly
1,700 other cities worldwide.
"We just want to make sure that we don’t bring embarrassment to the naval operations or to the
Armed Forces community," he told reporters after he was handed the petition.
"There’s responsibilities in hosting sometimes foreign carriers that hold nuclear devices. That’s a
part of our commitment to NATO and to the overall operations, and we have to respect that."
Jeri Grychowski, a navy public affairs officer, could not confirm if Halifax has been visited by
vessels carrying nuclear devices, saying such information is classified.
Mayors for Peace was formed some 25 years ago after Takeshi Araki, a former mayor of
Hiroshima, called for a program highlighting the solidarity of cities against nuclear weapons.
In his pitch to the Second UN Special Session on Disarmament in New York, Araki called on
cities around the world to support his program.
According to the group’s website, 56 Canadian cities, including Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton,
Ottawa and Montreal, have joined the movement.
Tamara Lorincz of the Halifax Peace Coalition said Halifax has "no acceptable excuse" for not
following suit.
"We do not want to welcome nuclear weapons on warships and submarines from France, Britain
and the U.S. in our harbour," she said during a speech outside city hall.
"The only hopeful and sustainable future for our children, the cities and people of this world is a
nuclear weapons-free future."
Last month, about two dozen delegates from around the world converged on Pugwash to discuss
the ongoing threat of nuclear weapons.
Delegates at the Pugwash Conference on Science and World Affairs planned to produce a letter
to governments around the world, pressing their case to dismantle nuclear arsenals.
Kelly said he invited Akiba, who’s also the president of Mayors for Peace, to meet with him at
that time, but the plan did not work out. He insisted Thursday that declining to join the group
does not mean he’s against peace.
"Who’s not for peace?" he said. "I would love to strive toward . . . a very peaceful world without
war, or famine or poverty. But we know we have a role and a responsibility under the NATO
operations that we’re a part of."