Thu, August 6, 2020

4:00 PM – 5:30 PM PDT

The August 6th commemoration held annually in the Peace Garden on Nathan Phillips Square in Toronto will take place online this year, due to Covid-19 health concerns. The Hiroshima Nagasaki Day Coalition invites interested viewers to participate in the 75th Anniversary Commemoration of the atomic bombings online on August 6 at 7 pm.

The commemoration will focus on 75 years of living with the threat of nuclear war, and the wisdom gained from its survivors. The main speaker will be Setsuko Thurlow who inaugurated the annual commemorations in Toronto in 1975 when David Crombie was the Mayor.

Setsuko Thurlow has been engaged throughout her life in public education and advocacy for nuclear disarmament. Her efforts around the world have been recognized by membership in the Order of Canada, commendation from the Japanese Government, and other honours. She jointly accepted the Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons in 2017.

Peace activist Phyllis Creighton, a historian, will sketch Canada's role in creating the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, its nuclear industry's reckless endangering of Dene workers, severely impacting the Indigenous community, Canada's continued sale of uranium and nuclear reactors enabling more countries to become nuclear armed, and its full commitment to NORAD and NATO, both nuclear alliances relying on nuclear weapons.

Music by Grammy-nominated flautist Ron Korb and photos, animation and brief excerpts from documentaries will show major highlights in the 75-year long effort to abolish nuclear weapons and give us hope for their eventual elimination.