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On the weekend of November 20th a small "ad hoc affinity group of friends and autonomous earth activists" came together under the banner "People Against Nuclear Testing" (PANT) to protest the French nuclear testing in the South Pacific. The group started their three day peace pilgrimage at the Canadian Forces Base in Esquimalt and ended at the French consulate in Vancouver.
As well as walking all the way, the group also shared in the carrying of a 15-foot facsimile of a nuclear missile constructed out of reused newspaper, chicken wire and duct tape bearing the message "Return to Sender". About twenty-five people started the walk and six went the whole distance.
Most people met along the way were opposed to the nuclear explosions. But none were aware that the French Atomic Energy Commission, the agency conducting the tests, has ownership of COGEMA and CAMOCO, two of the largest companies extracting uranium from Cree and Dene nation lands in Northern Saskatchewan. Canada imposes no regulations to guarantee that Canadian uranium does not end up in French bombs.
The group collected signatures for petitions to the Saskatchewan and Canadian governments calling for a halt of Canadian uranium exports to France and to the United Nations supporting a comprehensive nuclear test ban treaty.
Copyright © 1996, Victoria
Peace Centre Society
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