Nuclear Threats and Canada’s Disarmament Diplomacy

ABSTRACT

For the last ten years the Disarmament NGO Canadians for a Nuclear Weapons Convention (CNWC) has conferred a “Distinguished Achievement” award on an individual who has contributed to advancing nuclear disarmament. Paul Meyer, an Adjunct Professor of International Studies at Simon Fraser University, a Director of the Canadian Pugwash Group and a former Canadian Ambassador for Disarmament was the recipient of the 2022 award. In connection with the award, Meyer delivered on 28 November 2022 a public lecture at the University of Ottawa’s Centre for International Policy Studies. The lecture addressed contemporary nuclear threats, described current efforts at nuclear arms control and disarmament and proposed five actions that the Canadian Government could take to advance its disarmament goals.

KEYWORDS:

• Canada
• disarmament diplomacy
• nuclear threat

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Paul Meyer

Paul Meyer is Fellow in International Security and Adjunct Professor of International Studies at Simon Fraser University (SFU) in Vancouver (since 2011). Previously, he had a 35-year career with the Canadian Foreign Service, including serving as Canada’s Ambassador to the United Nations and to the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva (2003–2007). He is the former chair and a current director of the Canadian Pugwash Group. He teaches a course on diplomacy at SFU and writes on issues of nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament, outer space security and international cyber security.