By World BEYOND War, August 6, 2024
Every Labour Day weekend, Toronto is subjected to the Canadian International Air Show (also known as the Toronto Air Show), a blatant advertisement for militarism, war, and violence. Unable to escape from the earsplitting roar of planes on low fly-bys, the air show re-traumatizes victims of war, pollutes our air, and disturbs millions of residents across the city. The next one is scheduled for August 31-September 2, 2024.
Here are four reasons to cancel the air show:
1. The Air Show Glorifies War And The Military
From the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, to Israel’s invasion of Gaza, in the past year we have seen hospitals shelled, homes reduced to rubble, and the bodies of thousands of children killed in bombings. We have been witnessing the inhuman face of war, and exactly what the warplanes being celebrated at the air show are designed to do. Despite the fact that many of the jets used in the show are the same ones used to produce the horrid images we’ve been seeing, the Canadian air force blatantly uses the air show as an opportunity to sanitize war and recruit for the Royal Canadian Air Force.
2. The Air Show Promotes Weapons Sales
Lockheed Martin, the world’s largest weapons producer and a major air show sponsor, used the air show as an advertisement in 2022 in an attempt to sell the public on a 19 billion dollar deal to the government for the purchase of their F-35 fighter jets. From Ukraine to Yemen, from Palestine to Colombia, from Somalia to Syria, from Afghanistan and West Papua to Ethiopia, no one profits more from war and bloodshed than Lockheed Martin. Arms dealers should not be able to invade our public and private spaces with ear-numbing advertisements.
3. The Air Show is Re-traumatizing to Victims of War and Disrupts Millions of Residents
This inescapable noise is a frightening reminder of war to the thousands of Toronto residents who have fled warzones, many of whom were bombed by CF-18s and F-35s like the ones that fly during the air show. Not only does this cause needless anxiety to survivors of war, but pets and wildlife have to contend with the shocking noise and pollution the event brings. Those living and working in Toronto during the air show are a captive and often unwilling audience as the noise reverberates through our homes, streets, and workplaces.
4. The Air Show Is A Harmful Expense
The air show is a harmful waste of public resources to showcase “demonstration squadrons” such as Canada’s Snowbirds and the USA’s Blue Angels. These squadrons serve as publicly funded recruitment tools that burn thousands of liters of fuel per hour to put on aerial displays. After a summer that found Toronto blanketed in smoke from record setting wildfires, the air show is a costly and unnecessary contribution to carbon emissions at the taxpayers expense.
If you’re from Toronto, email your City Councilor here.
If you’re from anywhere else, share this article!
