[news] Canada's role in A-Bomb on Japan

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-----Forwarded Message-----
From: Hari Sharma <sharma at sfu.ca>
Subject: [pr-x] Canada's role in A-Bomb on Japan
Date: 12 Aug 2003 12:06:34 -0700

Dear friends:

You may find this article by John Price (on the question of Canada's 
role in the 1945 a-bombing of Japan) of interest to you.

hari

>>
>>Our own atomic victims
>>An uncaring, racist Canadian government added men of the Dene to 
>>Hiroshima's toll
>>
>>John Price
>>Special to Times Colonist
>>
>>
>>Saturday, August 09, 2003
>>
>>Photo
>>CREDIT: U.S. Army Air Forces
>>
>>Hiroshima after the first operational atomic bomb was dropped on 
>>Aug. 6, 1945. The Dene of Deline joined its victims, writes John 
>>Price, when the Canadian government conscripted them to transport 
>>uranium ore for the atomic effort, keeping from them the knowledge 
>>that radioactivity would likely kill them. There is now some doubt 
>>that the bomb was needed to force Japan's surrender without an 
>>invasion.
>>
>>
>>Five years ago, six members of the Sahtu group of the Dene First 
>>Nation from Deline on Great Bear Lake in Alberta travelled to Japan 
>>to attend the commemorative ceremonies for the victims of the 
>>atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
>>
>>They went to Japan to express their regret for the suffering that 
>>the atomic bombs caused. They went to highlight the fact that they, 
>>too, had unwittingly been victimized by the atomic bombs.
>>
>>In the 1940s, the Canadian government conscripted Dene of Deline to 
>>transport uranium ore on their backs from the Eldorado mine near 
>>Deline that was then processed into fuel for the atomic program.
>>
>>Today, most of the men of that group of Dene are dead -- their 
>>bodies ravaged by cancer from their exposure to uranium, a danger 
>>of which the Canadian government was aware, but neglected to tell 
>>the Dene ore carriers.
>>
>>Racism was deeply rooted in Canada during the war years -- it made 
>>the Dene expendable, it justified the internment and dispossession 
>>of Japanese-Canadians, and it made it easier to decide to 
>>obliterate Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
>>
>>Indeed, immediately after the dropping of the bomb on Hiroshima, 
>>Canada's prime minister at the time, Mackenzie King, reflected: "It 
>>is fortunate that the use of the bomb should have been upon the 
>>Japanese rather than upon the white races of Europe."
>>
>>The Canadian government should take responsibility not only for 
>>what happened to the Dene ore carriers, it should also be 
>>aggressively educating Canadians about our government's role in the 
>>atomic holocaust and it should be sending government 
>>representatives to Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
>>
>>The wartime nuclear program was a tri-national venture that 
>>included not only the United States but also Great Britain and 
>>Canada. In a statement released shortly after the atomic bombing, 
>>C.D. Howe, Canada's minister of munitions and supply, boasted of 
>>his pleasure that "Canadian scientists and Canadian institutions 
>>have played an intimate part and have been associated in an 
>>effective way with this great scientific development."
>>
>>Not only did the Canadian government help provide uranium and heavy 
>>water for the wartime program, it also mobilized hundreds of 
>>scientists and technicians to work with British and American 
>>scientists. Furthermore, the Canadian government, along with the 
>>British and Americans, sat on the Combined Policy Committee that 
>>oversaw the co-ordinated effort to develop the bomb. At 9:30 a.m. 
>>on July 4, 1945, this committee, with Canada's Howe in attendance, 
>>officially agreed that the bomb should be used on Japan.
>>
>>Indeed, King knew in the summer of 1945 that the bomb would be 
>>dropped. In his diary, he mused: "It makes one very sad at heart to 
>>think of the loss of life that it will occasion among innocent 
>>people as well as those that are guilty. It can only be justified 
>>through the knowledge that for one life destroyed, it may save 
>>hundreds of thousands and bring this terrible war quickly to a 
>>close."
>>
>>We now know that King had deluded himself. In Hiroshima for 
>>example, of the 70,000 who died instantly, only 3,243 were military 
>>troops -- the rest were civilians.
>>
>>Traditional Canadian historians suggest that the atomic bomb was 
>>necessary to end the war and save Allied lives. We now know that 
>>such was not the case. According to J. Samuel Walker, chief 
>>historian of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission: "The consensus 
>>among scholars is that the bomb was not needed to avoid an invasion 
>>of Japan and to end the war within a relatively short time. It is 
>>clear that alternatives to the bomb existed and that (U.S. 
>>President Harry S.) Truman and his advisers knew it."
>>
>>In 1996, the International Court of Justice (The Hague) ruled that 
>>the threat or use of nuclear weapons would generally be contrary to 
>>international law. Yet today, the United States continues to 
>>maintain a huge nuclear arsenal and hopes to ensure its nuclear 
>>superiority by implementing a new Star Wars program.
>>
>>This is not the way to convince other nuclear countries to disarm, 
>>let alone convince North Korea to abandon its hope for nuclear 
>>weapons.
>>
>>As the first to use nuclear weapons, it is up to the U.S. 
>>government to take unilateral steps towards disarmament. The 
>>Canadian government should encourage it to do so. Supporting a new 
>>Star Wars program is not the way forward and would be to turn our 
>>backs on the lessons from Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
>>
>>John Price teaches Japanese history at the University of Victoria.
>>
>>© Copyright 2003 Times Colonist (Victoria)
>>
>>John Price
>>University of Victoria
>>Tel: 250 721-7386 (W)
>>Fax: 250 721-8772

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