For the Record:
Don Currie, Chair of Canadians for Peace and Socialism (CPS), on behalf of the Committee of Canadian Communists (CCC) forerunner of CPS, addressed Prime Minister Chretien, the Liberal Caucus and leaders of the NDP, Reform and Bloc opposition caucuses in the House of Commons in the lead up to and during the 80 day NATO bombing of Yugoslavia in 1999 and 2000.
For the record we reprint what we said at that time. Some slight editing has been done to eliminate repetition.
Canadians for Peace and Socialism
March 24, 2009

Rt. Hon. Jean Chretien
Prime Minister Canada
House of Commons Ottawa
K1A 0A6
Fax (613) 941 6900
March 29, 1999
Dear Prime Minister
Your justification for Canada’s participation in NATO military aggression against the government and citizens of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, your violation of the United Nations Charter, your abandonment of the principle of non-interference in the internal affairs of sovereign states rests on a single assertion. You assert that one man, Slobadon Milosevic, President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia is solely responsible for all atrocities, all massacres, all violation of human rights in the entire region of the former Yugoslavia and now must be stopped by military force. You and your ministers assert that there are no other relevant facts to this matter, no other issues at stake, no other political, economic or historical imperatives, no other compelling arguments worth considering. These allegations you assert, fully justify placing our armed forces in the unprecedented role of waging an undeclared war on a sovereign country, which has not attacked any other member of the United Nations or NATO. You assert that your version of events now unfolding in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia is justification for directing our Canadian pilots to kill Yugoslav citizens by aerial bombardment and lay waste to their country. The argument of your government seems to be that to stop an alleged atrocity an even bigger atrocity is therefore justifiable.
You advise Canadians to ignore the standpoint of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia as having no merit. You assert that only NATO upholds truth and justice in this dispute. Not even you can deny that the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia has been threatened for months by western nations, principally the United States, to either comply with US settlement proposals for Kosovo or face war. You must be aware that countries threatened with war either capitulate to the threats or they prepare to defend themselves. The Yugoslav people who rose up in their millions to defeat Hitler when he invaded their territory are not well disposed to threats. The Yugoslav authorities have been correctly preparing the defenses on their own territory for the eventuality of foreign invasion. War means war – it is not a debate in the House of Commons.
You have chosen to interpret every action of the Yugoslav authorities to prepare the territory of their country to resist foreign invasion as acts of aggression against the entire Albanian population of Kosovo. You are full of wrath and indignation at the suppression of the KLA by the Yugoslav authorities. Why? It is the KLA and their political leaders who have provoked retaliation by the Yugoslav police and military. The KLA has been armed and trained and supported by foreign powers. The KLA has openly called upon NATO to bomb their fellow citizens, the Serbs. The KLA is openly calling for NATO troops to invade their own country in order to achieve their political goals.
Kosovo is not a sovereign state. It is a province within a federal state. Kosovo Albanians are citizens of Yugoslavia. It is not only legitimate, but from the point of view of the Yugoslav authorities, a military necessity to defeat the KLA and those who support them. How would you suggest Milosovic defend his country. Invite the KLA to tea?
No Mr. Prime Minister, you know better. You and your ministers are engaging in rhetoric, which attempts to demonize an entire people, the Serbian population of Yugoslavia. You are doing this on behalf of NATO, led by the United States in an attempt to psychologically prepare the Canadian people to accept the dreadful consequences of a major land war in Yugoslavia. NATO has prepared for this land war, with Canada’s support and participation. Ten thousand NATO troops are massed in Macedonia on the borders Yugoslavia. When this army enters Kosovo it will precipitate a war in which tens of thousands of young men and women of many countries will die.
We know by watching our television screens every night that there is an atrocity being perpetrated by NATO bombing against the people of Yugoslavia. The logical outcome of this outrage is to inflame the internal political situation in Yugoslavia. In times of war civilian populations suffer. NATO is responsible for the events now unfolding in Kosovo. There were no major movements of civilian populations from the territory of Kosovo before the NATO bombardment of Yugoslavia.
Your Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Lloyd Axworthy, interviewed on CBC news March 26, 1999 argued that there is now a new “moral imperative” in world affairs transcending sovereignty. Presumably this new moral imperative also applies to Canada. Are we to assume that the issue of the potential for Quebec separation from the Canadian Federal state is no longer a purely Canadian issue to be decided by Canadians? Will you be standing in your place in the House of Commons to repudiate Pierre Trudeau’s military intervention to suppress the FLQ as a dangerous precedent that will never be repeated? Will you now declare that matters of Canadian sovereignty as they relate to territorial integrity, national, minority and linguistic rights will be submitted to NATO for resolution?
You describe yourself as an experienced politician, a veteran of many national and international crises. You cannot therefore, fail to know what you have done. You have aligned your government and our country with the United States in a departure from the principles of collective security as originally outlined by the United Nations. You have subscribed our country to the concept of armed blocs and militarist adventures where sovereignty is of no consequence. There are grave and long range consequences for the international reputation of Canada resulting from such a shift in policy.
Mr. Prime Minister; you have no mandate from Parliament or the Canadian people to wage undeclared war against a sovereign state which is attacking no other country. You have no mandate to commit Canada’s armed forces to participate in NATO bombing of Yugoslavia. You have it within your power to return Canada to the role of an independent voice for negotiation and peace. You can decide to join with the majority of world public opinion, which opposes a war in the Balkans. You can return our armed forces to Canada. You can prevent the sacrifice of Canadian young people in an undeclared war of aggression against the people of Yugoslavia. You can be a real Prime Minister or continue to be a faint echo of US strategic aims in Europe. The choice is yours.
Yours truly
Don Currie

To Members of the Liberal Caucus
House of Commons
Ottawa, Ont.
March 29, 1999
Dear Liberal Members of Parliament
The attached document, a letter to the to the Prime Minister of Canada, expresses my profound alarm and concern about the real possibility of total war in the centre of Europe and its grave consequences for world peace.
I call upon you as a group to cease being intimidated by NATO and stand up for Canada and world peace.
Yours truly
Don Currie

To Members of the NDP Caucus
House of Commons
Ottawa Ont.
March 29, 1999
Dear NDP Members of Parliament
The attached documents, a letter to Alexa McDonough, leader of your party and a letter to the Prime Minister of Canada, expresses my profound alarm and concern about the real possibility of total war in the centre of Europe and its grave consequences for world peace.
I call upon you as a group to cease being intimidated by NATO and stand up for Canada and world peace.
Don Currie.

Ms. Alexa McDonough
Leader of the New Democratic Party
House of Commons
Ottawa, Ont.
March 29, 1999
Dear Ms. McDonough
I am profoundly disturbed and alarmed at the support provided by the NDP for NATO bombing of the people of Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. I call upon you and your party to uphold the principles of the United Nations Charter and international law and to join with the majority of world public opinion which is opposed to NATO aggression in the Balkans.
I am attaching to this email a fax sent today to the Prime Minister.
Don Currie

Mr. Preston Manning,
Leader of the Reform Party of Canada
House of Commons
Ottawa, Ont.
March 29, 1999
Dear Mr. Manning
I am profoundly disturbed and alarmed at the support provided by the Reform Party for NATO bombing of the people of Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. There is no basis in international law, either through the United Nations or NATO for such action. The difficulties faced by the Kosovo Albanians have now been made worse by NATO intervention. I call upon you and your party to uphold the principles of the United Nations Charter and international law and to join with the majority of world public opinion which is opposed to a major war in the centre of Europe. Such a war as you know can rapidly spread and escalate into a world crisis.
I am attaching to this email a fax sent today to the Prime Minister.
Don Currie

To Members of the Reform Caucus
House of Commons
Ottawa Ont.
March 29, 1999
Dear Reform Members of Parliament
The attached documents, a letter to Preston Manning, leader of your party and a letter to the Prime Minister of Canada, expresses my profound alarm and concern about the real possibility of total war in the centre of Europe and its grave consequences for world peace.
I call upon you as a group to cease being intimidated by NATO and stand up for an independent Canadian foreign policy based on international negotiations through the auspices of the United Nations.
Don Currie

Mr.Gilles Duceppe,
Leader of the Bloc Quebecois,
House of Commons
Ottawa Ont.
March 29, 1999
Dear Mr. Duceppe
I am profoundly disturbed and alarmed at the support provided by the Bloc Quebecois for NATO bombing of the people of Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. I call upon you and your party to uphold the principles of the United Nations Charter and international law and to join with the majority of world public opinion which is opposed to NATO aggression in the Balkans. Total war on the territory of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia is inevitable if NATO is allowed to continue with its aggression. Land war in the centre of Europe will be a disaster for humankind comparable only to the terrible devastation resulting from the second world war.
I am attaching to this email a fax sent today to the Prime Minister.
Don Currie

To Members of the Bloc Quebecois Caucus
House of Commons
Ottawa Ont.
March 29, 1999
Dear Bloc Quebecois Members of Parliament
The attached documents, a letter to Gilles Duceppe, the leader of your party and a letter to the Prime Minister of Canada, expresses my profound alarm and concern about the real possibility of total war in the centre of Europe and its grave consequences for world peace.
I call upon you as a group to cease being intimidated by NATO and stand up for Canada and world peace.
Yours truly
Don Currie