We in Canada worked out a strategy to better control and, where possible, destroy weapons and materials of mass destruction, particularly in the former Soviet Union where vast quantities of material exist, often in an underprotected or unsecured environment.

Particularly because after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Russians lacked the resources necessary to adequately protect all their installations.

So when Canada had the chair of the G8 Summit, we launched a program to control the material in use, storage and transport; to strengthen border controls, export controls, law enforcement and intelligence efforts to deter, detect and interdict in the event of illicit trafficking; and to reduce overall the quantities of weapons and materials of mass destruction in existence—the thought being: the less of this material that is around, the less chance it is going to be picked up by terrorists.

At the summit, the leaders agreed to launch this Global Partnership, where we agreed to raise up to US$20 billion to address a variety of urgent security needs. We identified a number of key priorities, including the destruction of Russia’s chemical weapons stockpile.

They have over 40,000 tonnes of chemical weapons, some of them in shells that are extremely portable. We are spending a great deal of time, effort and money to take these munitions and destroy them. We have a program to dismantle Russian nuclear submarines.

Canada and other countries are helping Russia with its legacy of decommissioned submarines that contain nuclear fuel that is waiting to be removed from the submarines and then secured on-site at a location where it will be protected.

There is also a program called Nuclear and Radiological Security, and that is basically going into nuclear installations and making sure that there are adequate security measures like cameras, key card access control, high fences, and making sure that terrorists cannot get in and acquire the plutonium or the highly enriched uranium required to make a nuclear device.

There is also a focus within this portfolio on radiological materials, so radiological dispersal devices—or dirty bombs—are not a vehicle through which terrorists can achieve their ends.

Finally, there is a program related to the scientists. It’s not only securing the material, but also the expertise and the technology associated with the development and acquisition of the warheads.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the weapons scientists were left underemployed or unemployed. So we have a major program to employ the scientists in peaceful pursuits, so those that were previously engaged in weapons activities can now work on things like finding vaccines, to the betterment of our societies.

We—Canada and the G8 countries, and now joined by 13 other countries—have been working in the Global Partnership for some years, and Canada for its part has agreed to spend a billion dollars Canadian over 10 years. We are launching programs in all of the priority areas, including the dismantlement of submarines and securing Russian facilities.

We have funded major projects of research with weapons scientists, and there’s the major chemical weapons destruction facility at Shchuch’ye. Our website indicates all of those projects.

We also have a program to secure biological pathogens throughout the former Soviet Union, so that those agents do not end up in the hands of terrorists. It is a major program, unanimously endorsed by the UN General Assembly.

We are all working in partnership towards a singular goal of preventing the acquisition of materials and weapons of mass destruction by terrorist groups.

This is critically important in the current international security environment where certain groups seek to not negotiate for certain ends, but to cause destruction in societies that they deem particularly abhorrent. So, we in Canada and around the world are working to make sure that we have a more stable international environment and a safer world.