On Friday January 31st, a network of civil society leaders made a call for Canadians to forcefully defend Canada’s sovereignty in the face of threats from the Trump administration. At a media conference on Parliament Hill, they launched the non-partisan Pledge for Canada/Engagement pour le Canada, endorsed by a wide array of former elected leaders, labour and Indigenous leaders, lawyers and scholars, national climate and social justice organization leaders, senior public servants, and artists. 

The Pledge states that “Previous generations have fought to protect our democracy and made sacrifices to build the Canada we inherited. This is now our time. The threats of economic coercion from the United States, our neighbour and leading trading partner, pose serious risks to the well-being of all Canadians and to our sovereign right to determine our political, economic, social, and cultural destiny.

We will meet the challenge as previous generations have done, not by bending to threats but by joining together in common purpose, across partisan, regional, and cultural differences, to look out for one another, to protect our shared interests and assets, and to safeguard our democracy.”

The Pledge is open for signatures at https://engagement-canada-pledge.ca/.