Homes not Bombs

Canada Should Build Homes, Not Blow Them Up

PO Box 73620, 509 St. Clair Avenue West

Toronto, ON M6C 1C0

(416) 651-5800; tasc@web.ca

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE JULY 18, 2001

 

Vigil at Diemaco Thursday, July 19, 12 Noon Marks Closing of Special United Nations Session on "Small Arms"

Kitchener Weapons Manufacturer Continues Pumping Out Thousands of Weapons as the UN wonders How to Stem the Flow of Arms...

As the United Nations wraps up a two-week gathering in New York on ending the worldwide scourge of "small arms" -- the machine guns, assault rifles, grenade launchers and other weapons which are produced by Kitchener's Diemaco -- members of Homes not Bombs will again protest at the 1036 Wilson Ave. site on Thursday, July 19 at 12 noon. The group will walk from the corner of Fairway and Wilson to Diemaco.

Over 550 million "small arms" are floating around the world market, responsible for some 500,000 deaths each year, or 10,000 per week, and while Canada smugly criticizes United States policy, this country has pumped over a quarter of a billion dollars into the manufacture of such weapons at Diemaco,.

Homes not Bombs has protested at Diemaco for close to a year, and its efforts appear to be having an effect. When Diemaco continually claimed it only sold to NATO countries, research showed that Diemaco actually boasted through Industry Canada's website of "export experience" in a range of Far East, Middle East, and Pacific Rim countries. When the group exposed this, Diemaco hastily made changes to the website. When questions were raised about whether Diemaco C-7 Assault Rifles were used to murder student protesters in Papua New Guinea, that country was also taken off the list of countries which Diemaco proclaimed it has "export experience" with.

Three weeks ago, charges laid against two protesters who chalked peace signs on the Diemaco building were dropped.

 

For more info. call (416) 651-5800.

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