reiter@ubc-vision.CDN (Ray Reiter) (03/30/85)
Dear Colleague:
As you by now know, Canada has been invited to partici-
pate in the United States' Strategic Defense Initiative,
better known as Star Wars. The Canadian government has been
given 60 days, as of March 26, to decide. Many Canadian
scientists and engineers are opposed to any such participa-
tion. If you are one of them, would you sign the declara-
tion below?
A number of scientists and engineers at UBC are co-
ordinating this initiative. We intend to submit the
declaration to the ministers of science and technology, and
defence, as well as to the leaders of the three federal pol-
itical parties. We shall also send suitable letters
describing the declaration to the Globe and Mail and various
local newspapers, together with a count of the number of
signers. We may also call a news conference. The purpose
of all this is, in part, to contribute to the public debate
on this issue. More significantly, we hope to demonstrate
to the federal government that there is considerable opposi-
tion to Canadian participation in the SDI within the Cana-
dian engineering and scientific communities. This may well
deter a decision favouring Canadian participation, given
that SDI research would require the co-operation of many
scientists and engineers.
If you agree with the declaration, there are several
things you can do to help, in addition to signing. Distri-
bute copies of the declaration in your department or place
of employment. If you have friends or colleagues in other
science or engineering departments, ask them to sign and
distribute the declaration. We have no systematic way of
contacting all engineers and scientists in Canada, so the
success of this initiative depends to a large extent on
individual help. Finally, please remember that time is
short; we have at most 4 weeks.
Sincerely,
Raymond Reiter
Department of Computer Science
University of British Columbia
Vancouver, BC, V6T 1W5
DECLARATION
As Canadian scientists and engineers we are concerned about possi-
ble Canadian participation in research and development for the United
States' Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) - the so-called Star Wars
program. The SDI is a major escalation in the arms race, and destabil-
izes an already precarious nuclear balance.
We therefore call upon the government of Canada to reject the
invitation to participate in the SDI. Should the government decide to
accept, we will not co-operate.
NAME (print) SIGNATURE FIELD (physics, AFFILIATION (for
EE, etc.) identification only)
The government must decide before May 24. Please return as soon as possible to:
SDI Declaration
Department of Computer Science
University of British Columbia
Vancouver, B.C. V6T 1W5