On February 5, 2026, the Group of 78 was proud to be one of 15 civil society organizations that signed a joint letter to Prime Minister Mark Carney and Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand marking the expiry of the START agreement and calling on the Government of Canada to devote a greater portion of its rising defence budget to disarmament efforts and diplomacy for peace. This could include: “prioritizing disarmament and non-proliferation capacity within existing GAC resources and human resources; allocating a share of National Defence funding to diplomacy, arms control, and risk-reduction expertise housed within GAC; strengthening Canada’s multilateral peace and disarmament commitments by increasing diplomatic and financial investment in the nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament architecture, including the Non-Proliferation Treaty and engagement with the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons; supporting civil society partnerships for disarmament education, prevention, and international engagement.” The letter continues: “Prevention is not only more humane, it is more financially prudent. Diplomacy, disarmament education, and inclusive peacebuilding cost a fraction of what Canada is prepared to spend on military capacity.” This initiative was coordinated by International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War Canada (https://www.ippnwcanada.ca/). Read the full letter below.
Civil Society Sign-On: Urgent Call on Canada to Prioritize Diplomacy and Disarmament in light of New START Treaty expiration
Submit your organizational sign-on here: https://forms.gle/guy4K1hyqqFi5YWy9
February 5th, 2026
Ottawa, Ontario
To: the Honourable Prime Minister Carney and Honourable Minister Anand
Cc: Honourable Minister McGinty
At Davos this year, the message was clear: the world has entered a period of rupture. Great power rivalry is intensifying, trust in multilateral institutions is eroding, and the assumptions that once underpinned international security no longer hold. Naming that reality is critical, taking concrete steps to address it is vital.
Today, the New START Treaty expires, the last remaining agreement placing verifiable limits on the world’s largest nuclear arsenals. For the first time in decades, there will be no binding constraints on the strategic nuclear forces of the United States and Russia.
Canada lies between the world’s two largest nuclear powers at a time where arms control is absent and nuclear competition is accelerating without limits. At the same time, Global Affairs Canada (GAC) faces budget cuts that weaken the very diplomatic and preventive tools needed to manage this moment. Historically, Canadian diplomatic forces played a constructive role in encouraging dialogue on treaties such as New START, demonstrating that sustained diplomatic investment can help reduce nuclear danger.
Canada is deepening an existing imbalance between militarism and diplomacy. As defence spending and hard security accelerates, Canada is quietly hollowing out the diplomatic and preventive tools that actually reduce long-term insecurity: disarmament expertise, arms control diplomacy, sanctions implementation and enforcement capacity, feminist peace and security analysis, and meaningful engagement and partnerships with civil society.
In an environment of collapsing arms control, heightened mistrust, and accelerating gender regression, reducing diplomatic and preventive capacity does not make Canada safer. It leaves Canada more exposed, less able to anticipate crises, shape international rules, or exercise influence when it matters most. When preventative measures are sidelined, military spending ends up replacing strategy rather than supporting it. The result is a security posture that is more costly, less effective and more about appearances than results.
We acknowledge that the federal budget has been finalized. The question now is not whether resources exist, but how they are prioritized and aligned with Canada’s security and diplomatic needs. Within GAC, this means making deliberate choices to protect and strengthen disarmament, arms control, sanctions implementation and monitoring, and feminist peace and security capacity. As defence budgets grow, there is a strong case for allocating a modest portion of those resources to the diplomatic and preventive work that makes military spending effective, legitimate, and sustainable.
This could include:
- prioritizing disarmament and non-proliferation capacity within existing GAC resources and human resources;
- allocating a share of National Defence funding to diplomacy, arms control, and risk-reduction expertise housed within GAC;
- strengthening Canada’s multilateral peace and disarmament commitments by increasing diplomatic and financial investment in the nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament architecture, including the Non-Proliferation Treaty and engagement with the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons;
- supporting civil society partnerships for disarmament education, prevention, and international engagement.
Prevention is not only more humane, it is more financially prudent. Diplomacy, disarmament education, and inclusive peacebuilding cost a fraction of what Canada is prepared to spend on military capacity.
If this government is serious about adapting to today’s global realities, it must ensure that rising defence spending is matched by sustained investment in diplomacy, disarmament, and prevention, through clear prioritization within Global Affairs Canada and greater integration across departments.
Canada has a choice in how we invest. We can pour more resources into arms, risking escalation or focus on thoughtful, long-term safeguards to protect national and international security.
Signed,
Canadian Peace Research Association
Canadian Voice of Women for Peace
Disability Rights and Disarmament Initiative, Cape Breton University
Federation of Medical Women of Canada
Group of 78
International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War Canada (Nobel Prize affiliate 1985, 2017)
International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War Canada Sudbury Chapter
MedResRx,
Mines Action Canada
Pax Christi
Science for Peace
Women’s Peace and Security Network – Canada (members)
Women’s International League of Peace and Freedom Canada
Youth Nuclear Peace Summit