OPINION | Refusal to join Treaty on Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons puts federal government in awkward position | CBC News

At midnight the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) entered into force.

The treaty requires ratifying nations to, "never under any circumstances … develop, test, produce, manufacture, otherwise acquire, possess or stockpile nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices.".

Beyond making weapons that have always been immoral now also illegal for nations that have joined the treaty, it requires signatories to promote nuclear abolition.

Yet despite stating that it is committed to nuclear disarmament, Canada's federal government has refused to sign the TPNW.

The UN Institute for Disarmament Research, as well as the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, argue that the risk of nuclear weapons use is at its highest in decades.

Nuclear armed Israel, Pakistan and India have never signed the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty, while North Korea withdrew and is building up its arsenal.

Meanwhile, Global Affairs has claimed in recent months to "unequivocally support global nuclear disarmament" and a "world free of nuclear weapons.".

Just two weeks ago during a meeting of foreign ministers of the Stockholm Initiative for Nuclear Disarmament, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs Rob Oliphant reiterated in a government statement that, "Canada is committed to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) and its part in achieving a safer and more peaceful world?

Now is the time to make a concerted effort, working with like-minded partners, to advance our shared nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament objectives.

We are committed to achieving a world free of nuclear weapons.".

Initially Prime Minister Trudeau dismissed the UN conference that negotiated the treaty, stating, "there can be all sorts of people talking about nuclear disarmament, but if they do not actually have nuclear arms, it is sort of useless.".

Additionally, former prime ministers Jean Chrétien and John Turner, former deputy prime minister John Manley, former defence ministers John McCallum and Jean-Jacques Blais, and former foreign ministers Bill Graham and Lloyd Axworthy all signed an international statement in September supporting the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.