CCODP opposes BMD.

Ottawa--Canada has not yet made an official decision on whether or not it will participate in the proposed U.S. Ballistic Missile Defence system. (BMD). In order to forestall approval, Archbishop Brendan O'Brien, president of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, sent a letter to Prime Minister Paul Martin opposing Canada's participation.

Another Catholic organization, the Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace (CCODP) has also entered the fray as a member of the CCIC (Canadian Council for International Co-operation). At an August 25, 2004, rally on Parliament Hill, CCIC president Gerry Barr denounced BMD as a "bogus system of defence" which "overspends on threats which are not real and leaves real threats begging."

Supporting CCIC's position, CCODP has urged the government to use any money it might have spent on the weapons system to relieve poverty in the Third World. It recommends that Canada increase its Official Development Aid (ODA) to the world's poorest countries by 12-15 per cent each year, contributing around $10 billion before the year 2015.

CCODP also exhorted the government to "orient its security policies to promote a just solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict and the promotion of human rights and justice in the rest of the Middle East."

As there is no discussion within the Catholic community about the BMD, Catholics are left to wonder exactly whose voices are behind the CCODP, and who their political confreres are (Cath. Reg., Sept. 21; P.M., Sept. 1; CCODP, Aug. 31, 2004).