https://declassified.library.utoronto.ca/files/original/8db3b95f55e30de32db910eeb5ba9867.pdf 12b82be8790d21c26c59f9ebf4e8e18a PDF Text Text Document disclosed~~;;;, .. • t-he Access-to t~fo~;,,ationA-c~ Document divulgue en vertu de la Lt..iuurl'accia,i, l~rmation .. MEMORANDUM V 3120-14 i nll/~ June, (VCDS) 1971 MND ~//_/ MR. PEARSON<~~EN~N 1. Reference Senator Committee, DC Plans has 2. that role NUCLEAR WEAPONS Martin's researched inquiry yesterday at the this subject and finds that: a. Mr. Pearson made a major Liberal policy statement on defence during the debate on supply External Affairs - on 25 January, 1963. It starts on Page 3111 of Hansard. At this time Mr. Pearson was Leader of the Opposition. b. The relevant part is on Page 3125 and I quote "Therefore, Mr. Chairman, a Liberal government would honour those pledges made by its predecessor for Canada in agreement with our allies as long as they exist, until they were changed. That means that we would put Canada's armed services now in a position to do the job we had entrusted to them by the role which we had undertaken and which in certain cases requires at this time the use of tactical and defensive nuclear weapons. As I see it, that would be the only honourable course for ~he new government representing the Canadian people. Any other course would betray our trust, weaken Canada's reputation for living up to its word and deceive our own people with regard to pledges we had undertaken. I therefore repeat that, while keeping our pledges, we would seek a better and more effective defence role for Canada in the alliance, knowing that while this is necessary - and it will now take time - it is also necessary to honour the pledges we have undertaken until they are changed." I find nothing else more concrete than "we would seek a better and more ef~ebti~e for Canada in the alliance". this statement defence . .. /2 003505 �• - - • 7 Docu~~~disclosed under the Access to tnfor;,ation A~t Document divulgue en vertu de la Loi sur /'acces ii /'information -2- 3. You will recall in the White Paper of 1964 the statements are "NATO is a nuclear-armed defensive alliance - A share in the responsibility for these policies is a necessary concomitant of Canada's membership in NATO" and on North American Air Defence "such defence to be fully effective involves nuclear weapons". 4. I can find no specific statement which that we would only retain nuclear weapons for the system for which they were provided. Vice M.R. Dare Lieutenant General Chief of the Defence indicated the life of Staff 003506 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context CDNW18658 Title A name given to the resource "Mr. Pearson's Statement on Nuclear Weapons" Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource June 2, 1971 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived RG24, Acc. 1997-98/050, Box 3, File Title: White Paper (June 1971)