"Previous generations have fought to protect our democracy and made sacrifices to build the Canada we inherited.
This is now our time.
The threats of economic coercion from the United States, our neighbour and leading trading partner, pose serious risks to the well-being of all Canadians and to our sovereign right to determine our political, economic, social, and cultural destiny.
We will meet the challenge as previous generations have done, not by bending to threats but by joining together in common purpose, across partisan, regional, and cultural differences, to look out for one another, to protect our shared interests and assets, and to safeguard our democracy.
Canadians will decide Canada’s future and place in the world.
What is required in this moment is solidarity among Canadians and among our political leaders – federal, provincial, territorial, Indigenous, and municipal. We call on our leaders to work together across partisan divides to forcefully affirm and defend, in word and deed, Canada’s sovereignty, to put in place measures that mitigate the consequences of any unilateral actions on workers, families, and businesses, and to increase Canada’s resiliency in an increasingly turbulent and unpredictable world.
We therefore pledge our commitment to the following principles:
1. We must develop an all-of-Canada approach that is built collaboratively, engages Canadians, and balances to the extent possible our shared and diverse interests. We must also respect and protect our official languages, rights of Indigenous Peoples, and the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. No region or sector should seek to secure favour at the expense of the rest of the country.
2. We must unequivocally assert and protect the sovereign right of Canadians to shape their own political, economic, social, and cultural destiny, and protect our democracy from disinformation and foreign interference from both public and private actors such as through the manipulation and capture of online platforms.
3. To enhance Canada’s resiliency in this increasingly turbulent world, we must reduce our dependence on the United States by diversifying our trade and strengthening our collective tools and institutions necessary to defend and build the Canada we want, consistent with our shared commitments to inclusive democracy and human rights, equity and labour rights, environmental responsibility, reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples, and good global citizenship.
4. We must give priority to protecting nature, to preserving control over our lands and water systems, and to resolute action on the climate crisis.
5. We must seek and build alliances with other countries similarly threatened and with other like-minded countries. We must contribute our fair share to international cooperation for global climate action, common defence through alliances of democratic societies, humanitarian response to suffering in the world, and welcoming and protecting those seeking shelter in our lands."
Click on the link below to sign the petition.
