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.
Here are four reasons to cancel the air show:
The Air Show Glorifies War And The Military
From Israel’s incessant airstrikes on Gaza, to the ongoing attacks on Ukraine, 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 exactly what the warplanes being celebrated at the Toronto Air Show are designed to do. Despite this, the Canadian military blatantly uses the air show as an opportunity to sanitize war and recruit for the Royal Canadian Air Force.
The Air Show Promotes Weapons Sales
Lockheed Martin, the world’s largest weapons producer and a key performer at the 2024 Toronto airshow, used the air show as an advertisement in 2022 in an attempt to sell the public on a $19 billion dollar deal for the purchase of their F-35 fighter jets by the Canadian military. This deal was signed a few months after. 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.
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-22s like the ones slated to fly during this year’s 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.
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.
ACT NOW!
Take action to deny the Canadian International Air Show a platform to glorify war, recruit for the armed forces, and promote arms sales. This begins with ending Toronto’s role as host city to the event.
Fill out your information here to send an email to your City Councillor asking them to take action to cancel the air show.
Updates
Thank you to the 51 organizations that endorsed the Stop the Air Show campaign and everyone who showed up throughout the whole 2024 Air Show to oppose it with us! Together, we held a rally and march to confront the air show as it began on Saturday, dropped hundreds of fliers from CNE rides all weekend, and put up large screenprinted posters across the city to counter the air show’s propaganda. With your support we were also able to send thousands of emails to city councillors and the mayor, and march in the Labour Day march on the last day of the air show right up to the CNE gates.
Our campaign was covered by City News, Radio Canada, Yahoo News, Toronto Star, Now Toronto, and Global Evening News. We also got our own op-ed published in the Toronto Star.
Next, we’re ramping up our campaign to get the air show cancelled for good. Want to get involved in the campaign? Email toronto@worldbeyondwar.org to get looped in.
Shareable graphics and printable posters
Click on the images above to open the posters as pdf files.
Workers are unstoppable, another world is possible! We’re marching for a #WorldBeyondWar this #LaborDay! pic.twitter.com/k7g9BPLPFb
— World BEYOND War Canada (@WBWCanada) September 4, 2023
