History
Ploughshares was founded in 1976 by Ernie Regehr and Murray Thomson to promote peace by drawing attention to the increasing development and flow of weapons. The organization was located at Conrad Grebel College inCurrent programs
Currently, Project Ploughshares has programs focusing on the following five areas:Nuclear weapons
Space security
The Space Security Index is a research partnership between several academic, governmental, and non-governmental organizations. Partners include the Institute of Air and Space Law at McGill University, the Secure World Foundation, Project Ploughshares, and The Simons Foundation, in cooperation with the International Security Research and Outreach Programme of Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada publishes an annual report called the Space Security Index. It is the first and only annual, comprehensive and integrated assessment of space security. The project seeks to provide a policy-neutral fact base of trends and developments in space security based on primary, open-source research in an annual report. The objective is to facilitate dialogue on space security challenges and potential responses by providing the necessary facts and focus to inform an important debate that has become unnecessarily polarized. The project produces an annual report on trends and developments in space.Conventional weapons
Project Ploughshares monitors and reports on Canadian military production and exports. In support of this work, they maintain the Canadian Military Industry Database which compiles publicly available records of military contracts awarded to Canadian companies as well as annual government records of arms exports to overseas countries. Project Ploughshares is a member organization of the International Action Network on Small Arms, and the Control Arms coalition.Defence and human security
Armed conflicts
Since 1987, Project Ploughshares has been monitoring armed conflicts worldwide. The information is published annually as the ''Armed Conflicts Report'', analysing trends in armed conflict, political developments, status of the fighting and the number of deaths. In the 2020 publication of ''Killer Optics: Exports of Wescam Sensors to Turkey – a Litmus Test of Canada’s Compliance with the Arms Trade Treaty.'' the organization highlighted areas where the Canadian arms export laws and its treaty obligations were violated by an improper evaluation of the "substantial risk" that international human rights law or security violations could occur by the transfer of the advanced weaponry.Steven Chase. Senior Parliamentary Reporter. (22 September 2020). "Canada accused of breaching obligations under Arms Trade Treaty by allowing exports to Turkey"Local groups
A network of local Ploughshares groups promote the work of Project Ploughshares at the community level across Canada. Currently, there are local groups in: LangleyPublications
Since 1977, Project Ploughshares has been publishing thReferences
{{reflist Peace organizations based in Canada Organizations established in 1976