Trump’s threats reignite debate on Canada having nukes

Canada never owned its own nuclear weapons, but during the Cold War, the country allowed American nuclear weapons to be stationed on its soil as part of its defense role within NATO.

Soon after, in 1968, Canada signed the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, agreeing not to acquire nuclear weapons. In 1972, Canada signed the Biological Weapons Convention, which prohibits both the development and stockpiling of biological and toxin weapons.

By 1984, the last U.S. nuclear weapons were withdrawn from Canada, which stopped direct involvement in nuclear weapon development. Since then, Canada has not considered nuclear weapons as a part of its defence strategy and chose diplomacy as a tool to deal with global issues and potential conflicts.

The Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons supports global disarmament but does not ban the five nuclear powers from keeping or expanding their arsenals, Global News reported.

As global instability grows, Canada, as many other countries, have started asking a question that may change history completely: Should we at least reconsider nuclear deterrence? This consideration doesn’t mean weaponization in practice, but instead reviewing current strategy and security policy, which no longer represents modern reality.

France and the United Kingdom, the only two European countries with nuclear weapons, signed a declaration last summer for closer nuclear cooperation.

Since the Second World War, nuclear weapons have been used as a tool to prevent direct conflicts between states. Because nuclear weapons cause catastrophic consequences in a war and huge costs, global leaders tend to avoid initiating it.

The five major countries that possess nuclear weapons are the U.S., U.K., France, China, and Russia. The rest of the world mostly depends on protection from allies. However, as trust between countries becomes weaker, having nuclear weapons seems to be a privilege and one of the main global policy topics.

So far, in defence and security, Canada has been dependent on the U.S. However, recent political pressure has questioned the existing strategy.Should Canada really depend on another country to remain safe in the long term?

After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Ukraine had the world’s third-largest nuclear arsenal, with more than 1,700 strategic nuclear warheads on its territory. At the time, it ranked among the top nuclear powers globally. In 1994, Ukraine agreed to give up these weapons and signed the Budapest Memorandum on Security Assurances with Russia, the U.S., and the U.K.

In exchange, Ukraine received guarantee that its sovereignty and territorial integrity would be respected.

Belarus and Kazakhstan made similar decisions. All nuclear warheads located in those countries were transferred to Russia. At that time, the agreement seemed to be a successful one — before Russia’s annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea in 2014 and full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

This proves instead of being a safety solution, nuclear weapons demonstrate that relying completely on others for protection without independent deterrence has risks.

The main concern for Canada in discussing the nuclear weapon question are high costs and international commitment to non-nuclear state agreements. Reconsidering deterrence does not require immediate action. It could begin with a serious strategic review of Canada’s long-term defense needs and strengthening Arctic infrastructure, and increasing technological expertise as alternative ways to increase security, while maintaining commitment to non-proliferation.

For many, even discussing nuclear weapons doesn’t feel right as it is associated with destruction, not stability. However, countries are reviewing their security assumptions, not because they seek conflict, but because uncertainty is growing.

Canada may ultimately decide that nuclear weapons are not the right path. But refusing to even examine the question risks leaving the country unprepared and unsafe for a changing world.