War, stated upon the release of its report: "we are a rich country; we've got to
do some of this stuff".
"Manley is not referring to the need for a national housing program to relieve
the suffering and death of homeless people in a rich country like Canada," said
Beric German, Toronto Disaster Relief Committee (TDRC) co-founder. "Unlike the
large majority of Canada's public, he wants to keep fighting to support one
side in a civil war in Afghanistan."
Manley, who recommends continuing war and new resources to wage it, claims the
war is unpopular because ordinary people do not understand it. "Ordinary people
simply share decent priorities, which the government has been rejecting. It
chooses to ignore the homelessness disaster directly afflicting 300 000 people,
ignore available solutions, and instead waste resources on an endless war most
of us oppose," said Andrew Mindszenthy, TDRC Outreach Co-ordinator.
Malalai Joya, a woman elected to the Afghan parliament then kicked out for
criticizing warlord parliamentarians and now living in constant danger,
recently visited Canada. In Canada, she said, "people are homeless, they are
poor, but not only do they [Canada's government] not serve their people, but
money is going" to support the warlords the NATO war props-up in Afghanistan –
"not their innocent people". 90% of Canadian funds for Afghanistan go to war,
not reconstruction. "In Canada," Joya said, "the government follows the
footpath of the US, but the people are so great".
112 diverse organizations and thousands of individuals are publicly demanding
Housing Not War: an end to the Afghan war, and a redirection of funds from
record-high military spending to peaceful purposes, including an extra 1% for
housing. Daily, new supporters join the national campaign launched by TDRC and
the Canadian Peace Alliance.
Canada's skyrocketing military spending has reached $18.2B annually (the highest
since WWII) versus only $2B on housing. The only industrialized country with no
national housing program, Canada struggles through the worst housing crisis
since the Great Depression.
Housing Not War declaration signers can be seen at www.HousingNotWar.ca.
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