page. 4 THE OTHER PRESS November 16th, 1984 US. A erect INH As a huge submarine cuts through the dark North Atlantic waters, ‘its crew grows restless with channel fever. For the last few months the by KEN BURKE reprinted from the DALHOUSIE GAZETTE crew’s home together has been the metallic cave of the U.S. Mavey Lafayette class submarine, but now they are headed towards a friendly harbour. Crew members spend their idle moments thinking of a few days away the mind-numbing disci- pline and work in keeping the sub- marine running and its 128 nuclear warheads poised to fly on command to their points of destruction. As the sub slips unannounced into port, the men get ready to blow off steam in what a U.S. Consul-General calls ‘‘one of the best liberty ports they have’’--Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. _ While nobody, including the mili- tary, is sure how long nuclear subs have been docking here, for the past _six years Halifax has been a ‘safe port’ ‘for nuclear weapons the Canadian government vowed would never be tolerated within our territory. And a determined group of Nova Scotia peace activists is working to make sure this fact is no longer hidden from the general public. “We want to show how the i image of Canada as a non-nuclear state is a fallacy,’’ says Cathy McDonald, an engineering student at the Technical University of Nova Scotia and a member of the sub-watch committee. “Our policy of not having nuclear weapons in Canada--what does that ‘mean? We're just like an American port.’’ The former Liberal government’s have-it-both-ways policy on nuclear weapons is the focus of the peace group’s activities. Background Notes on Canada’s Security Policy, the only government document to state official defense policy regarding nuclear weapons in Canada, says Canada.will not ‘‘allow the transport or storage of nuclear weapons in Canadian waters.’’ The book adds a proviso that Canada- ‘respects the policy of the United States of America to neither comfirm nor deny the presence of nuclear weapons on their war ships.’’ In other words, an American submarine docked at Halifax need not confirm it is carrying nuclear weapons. While the Canadian government may not be sure what the submarines contain, the defense industry publi- cation Jane’s Fighting Ships provides a fairly detailed description. Aside from nuclear-powered attack sub- marines, which regularly visit Halifax and may or may not have nuclear warheads atop their missiles, all 31 submarines of the larger Lafayette class resemble floating missile silos more than they do ordinary sub- marines. With a crew ranging from 140 to 168 people, a Lafayette class sub’s design and function revolves completely a- round the 16 sea-launched Ballistic Missiles (S.L.B.M.’s it is built to hold. The missiles are either Poseidon, the older Polaris, or new Trident missiles-- which possess eight warheads able to separate in flight and destroy eight different ‘targets’ at up to 7000 km range. The 100 kiloton destructive. power of each warhead is five times greater than the bomb which _ flattened Hiroshima. On average, one of the Lafayette class submarines nudges into the large concrete wharf at Canadian Forces Base Shearwater every two months, according to Major Clare, the base information officer. This.pattern was interrupted in 1984 due to renovations at the docking area to ‘‘bring it up to NATO standards for submarines and surface ships,’’ says Clare. ‘‘This certainly is part of Canada’s NATO commitments.’’ ‘“‘That’s just not true,’’ says John Osborne, a sub-watch committee member who works as an engineer with the Nova Scotia Research Found- ations. ‘‘These subs don’t have to be here for our defense. They’re part of the deterrent--part of the overkill.’’ docked and paddled up close to the long, black shape, acting the part of curios local. After talking to crew members who were on the sub’s cronning tower, he paddled alongside the vessel. ‘| was close enough that-- partly as a means of keeping me away--one friendly guy said | wouldn’t come too close in here, you might get hit in the head,’ ’’ says McCalla-Smith. ‘‘That’s when | could see these eight doors on each side of the ship. | said, ‘Are those called the missile doors?’ He said, ‘No, they’re called the.missile muzzle doors.’ ’’ The first organized protest against nuclear submarines docking in Halifax was a Voice of Women protest against the visiting U.S.S. Von Stueben in April 1983. After that, the sub-watch committee began watching for more subs in earnest. Later in 1983, a group of Halifax peace organizations called the Coalit- ~ion Against Nuclear War collapsed, leaving most of the local peace work up to the sub-watch committee. ee. s Ve {i A= e Yike ; ES 2 ‘ — elf oD oe —_WHO GOES Ti 5 THAR « NUKES OR NO NUKES? I< “It’s no more a part of the NATO commitment than testing the cruise missile is,’’ adds Valerie Osborne, a longtime Project Ploughshares activist and sub-watch member. Due to the extensive dockwork under way, American submarine visits fell sharply from previous years in 1984. With nowhere to dock, sub- marines would have to lay anchor in the main harbour, in full view of all Halifax and Dartmouth city residents. And that’s exactly what the U.S.S. Casimir Pulaski did for several days in May this year. On April 30, in keeping with the American policy of keeping ship movements secret, the Pulaski sud- denly appeared at port anchorage number two in Dartmouth side of Halifax harbour. The sub’s alternately sloping and jutting outline lay clearly visible above the waves as sub-watch members quickly reacted with phone calls, public notices and leaflets before it could steathily creep away. Peace groups staged a die-in on a downtown Halifax street, blocking rush hour traffic, and followed with a demonstration at the ferry terminal across the harbour from the docked Pulaski. “It's not just a symbol,’’ says McDonald. ‘’When you think that in our harbour is the power to kill millions, you see how invisible and how powerful the threat is.’’ Jim McCalla-Smith get a much different look at the Pulaski than the demonstrators at the ferry terminal. The Dalhousie Universiy graduate student dipped his canoe into the harbour the day after the submarine As an editorial in “The Disarmer, a local peace movement newsletter, said, ‘‘Peace workers in Canadian cities such as Winnipeg, Toronto, or . Montreal do not have the special responsibility the Nova Scotia peace. movement does. “‘Fully-armed and ready ballistic missiles aren’t the honoured quests of their cities, but they are here.’’ Living up to this responsibility has not proved to be easy for the eclectic group of peace workers. With no notice of an SLBM submarine’s arrival possible and stopovers limitied to three or four days, large rallies are virtually impossible to organize during a sub alert. When the Shearwater dock becomes functional again, submarines will be kept under tight security, making it difficult to find out whether one is in port or not, let alone discover its name and. classification to check against a library copy of Jane’s Fighting Ships. “It really is difficult,’’ says Valerie Osborne, a sub-watch member. ‘‘The last one that came in, it just happened that everyone was in when we called, and it went smoothly. The following. week, there was a false alarm, but we started to call people anyway to let them know about it. The first five names we called were out,’’ she says with frustration in her voice. Official reaction to the committee’s work has been predictable. In an office tower suite with a commanding view of the harbour, behind security doors and protective glass, U.S. Consul-General Lawrence Raicht speculates as space shuttle photographs gleam from the walls. ‘‘1 alifax think these protesters are a very small section of society,’’ he says. ‘Most Canadians are not at all displeased to know that the U.S. Navy maintains a fair number of ships out there to defend the coast of North America.’ “Last year there was a supposed mass demonstration against a nuclear submarine. This mass demonstration turned out to be seventy elderly people, high school students and housewives,’ says Raicht. Local political reaction has taken the same condescending tone--or worse. After the Tall Ships proved to be a popular attraction in the port this past summer, Halifax Mayor Ron Wallace issued an invitation to the NATO fleet, presumably including S.L.B.M. sub- marines, to a Parade of Warships celebration in the summer of ’85. Halifax city council rejected a 1982 proposal for a referendum on disarma- ment which would have been held in - conjunction with civic elections. Given the history of the Halifax- Dartmouth area, any other response would have been surprising. Halifax was created by the British in 1749 as a naval fortress due to its deep, long and sheltered harbour. Halifax and the navy have been seen as inseparable by much of the population ever since the first warship dumped a hold full of settlers on its shores. Halifax today is very much a base town and is home to Canada’s Atlantic coast fleet of warships. More than 25 percent of Halifax residents depend on the Department of National Defense for their paycheques, according to Statistics Canada. And many see peace activists as a direct assault on their way of life. During the Casimir Pulaski visit Halifax’s daily newspaper ran a series of articles pro-sub-watch in tone, and were flooded with phone calls supportive of the Pulaski’s pres- ence in the harbour. The committee takes this reaction in stride. ‘‘| don’t mind negative reaction,’’ says sub-watcher John Osborne. ‘‘What worries me more is the sort of stony silence we get. There’s an awful lot of non-talking going on--sitting on the subject.’ lan Cook, a first-year student at the University of King’s College agrees. ‘Halifax people sometimes take their involvement with the base too far,’’ he says. ‘‘| wish they could see how far wrong we’ve gone with nuclear arms.’’ With the recent New Zealand gov- ernment decision to eliminate Ameri- can military bases, including $.L.B.M. submarine facilities, and the spread- ing of submarine protests to Darwin, Australia on September 28, Halifax activists can take heart. They are becoming a part of a global movement against the $.L.B.M. submarines as other people realize what is happening in their home town. “| mean, here’s an avenue where we can change things in our own harbour,’’ Cook says, compulsively running his hands over his head as he sketches out his dream. ‘’When the subs leave and don’t come _ back, they’II have to go to another port. And the people in that city can take our example and do what we did.’’ “‘Soon they won’t have any place to dock.’”