Sudbury group calls for city to sign on to campaign to abolish nuclear weapons
CBC
A group is calling on the City of Greater Sudbury to sign on to the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons appeal.
Richard Denton, a retired physician and former mayor of Kirkland Lake who now lives in Sudbury, chairs the newly formed Sudbury Chapter of the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War.
His group wants Sudbury to join other cities across Canada in signing the appeal.
"Back in the day, it was five nuclear countries, now we're up to nine nuclear countries," he said. "The risk of a nuclear war is now greater than it's ever been."
Denton said those risks include accidents, miscalculations, terrorists or escalation of a conventional war into nuclear war.
He acknowledged it's not a greatly discussed topic currently, as he said society is worried about COVID-19 and the climate crisis.
"I think there's so many things that a person can think of or wants to tackle and nuclear weapons is something that is out there," he said.
Denton said his group has talked with various city councillors who he said are in support of their cause. Currently, they're working gathering signatures for a petition to present to city council.
"Like the city coming together on the climate crisis, we're hoping they'll come together on this as well," he said.
CBC Sudbury has requested a comment from the City of Greater Sudbury and is awaiting a response.
Denton said there are 16 cities across Canada that have signed the declaration, including Halifax, Montreal, Toronto, Winnipeg, Vancouver and Victoria.
The initiative to get the City of Winnipeg to sign on last year was led by two teenagers, Roo Ali and Avinashpall Singh. Ali said it was important to get Winnipeg's support to push the federal government to sign on.
"Not one city is going to make a difference," she said.
"But when more cities do it — especially here in Canada as Winnipeg joins the list — then hopefully we can turn that conversation up to the national level and make this a priority, because right now it's not being discussed as it should be and that needs to change."
P.E.I.'s Public Schools Branch is looking for 50 substitute bus drivers, and it'll be recruiting at three job fairs on Saturday, June 8. The job fairs are located at the Atlantic Superstore in Montague, Royalty Crossing in Charlottetown, and the bus parking lot of Three Oaks Senior High in Summerside. All three run from 9 a.m. until noon. Dave Gillis, the director of transportation and risk management for the Public Schools Branch, said the number of substitute drivers they're hiring isn't unusual. "We are always looking for more. Our drivers tend to have an older demographic," he said.