82.19. International Satellite Monitoring Agency (ISMA)
A copy is enclosed of the Science For Peace brief on ISMA, which was presented February 16 to the House of Commons sub-committee on Security and Disarmament. We strongly urge you to write to your MP and to other interested parties advocating that the Canadian government should support this proposal at the United Nations Special Session on Disarmament (UNSSOD II). A sample letter is enclosed, but a letter inyourown words is preferable — in any case you should tell your MP that the Science For Peace brief is printed in the minutes of the proceedings of the Standing Committee on External Affairs and National Defence, Issue 57 (16 Feb. 82)
Representatives of Science For Peace and also of Hiroshima-Nagasaki Relived will be presenting this brief in June in New York at the sessions reserved for Non-Governmental Organisations (NGO) and 300 copies have been sent to the UN for distribution to other NGO’s. However it is of the utmost importance that the Canadian government should support the ISMA proposal.
82.20. Position Paper No. 2
The Standing Committee on External Affairs and National Defence issued a quite lengthy report on security and disarmament. However six MP’s (from all parties) have dissented from the official report and they have issued a
Minority Report. We are informed that Prime Minister Trudeau is also unhappy with the official report, and that he may well turn to the Minority Report when he decides what he will propose when he speaks June 14 at UNSSOD II.
The Minority Report on Security and Disarmament is enclosed. It has been added to the George F. Kennen Propos,a1 for International Disarmament as a Position Paper of Science For Peac(e.
We strongly urge you to write to Prime Minister Trudeau to encourage him to speak in the spirit of this report when he addresses the General Assembly at the United Nations Special Session on Disarmament. Several copies of your letters to the 6 signators of the Minority Report, to the leaders of these opposition parties and to the Ministers of External Affairs and National Defence, and of course, to your own MP: remember that no postage is needed to write to parliament, so the only cost is your time and the photo-copy machine! (address: House of Commons, Ottawa KlA 0A6). If you are short of time, a telephone call to the Prime Minister’s office is quite effective: 613-992-4211. If you receive a form letter reply, then you should realise that normally there is no form letter reply suitable for dealing with a second letter.
Another mechanism for interacting effectively and rapidly with MP’s is the “Public opinion message”, a telegram of not more than fifteen words to a member of the House of Commons for $2.65. You need the postal code, KlA 0A6 and you should ask that it be delivered, not phoned. For longer messages use “night letters”, Letters to MPs at the House of Commons are postage free.