Take one minute to write to the Canadian Minister of Defence to say the contract for the purchase of remotely piloted aircraft systems for surveillance must NOT be awarded.

The Canadian government is moving quickly to award a contract for remotely piloted armed drones which would be used domestically and in foreign operations.

The initial cost estimate is $5 billion with billions more to operate the drones over their 25-year lifespan.

Now is the time to say stop the procurement process— to not award the contract. Armed drones threaten people’ s lives around the world. Rather than making the world safer, they are used in extrajudicial executions, surveillance of targeted populations and other violations of human rights.

When it comes to Canada’ s plans to acquire its first armed drones, what we do know and what we don’t know both provide cause for alarm. So far, we know that the drones will be equipped to carry at least two “precision-guided” missiles each and cost up to $5 billion in total; that the government expects to award the final contract by 2024 and for the drones to be in full operation by 2030. We do not know what legal restrictions will apply even in theory to the drones’ activities inside and outside Canada, or what protections and remedies will be available even in theory for the targets”

Azeezah Kanji in Canada 2030: Drone Colony, Yellowhead Institute

Learn more: Militarizing the Sky: Opposing Canada’s Armed Drone Purchase