I should have known things were not going to go well at the DEFSEC Atlantic 2023 (Canadian Defence Security & Aerospace Exhibition Atlantic) show when a former student called me over in the lobby.  MK wore a suit and tie and carried the start of a mid-life bulge above his belt.  He reminded me he had been my student more than 20 years ago.  I asked him what he was doing at the Halifax Convention Centre. “I’m here for the DEFSEC conference,”  he told me proudly. “My company – I mean the one I work for — provides security bells and whistles to aerospace companies. Let me explain.” He wanted to be my teacher, so I told him not to bother.

I said, “If this is where a business degree from Saint Mary’s University gets you, being a shill for the arms industry, I’m not interested.”

War Crimes Start Here!

By then the security guard was weaving a path my way, so I went outside with my two co-protester friends. We leafleted outside on the Convention Centre steps. Our signs read War Crimes Start Here.  It is a riff on the 2011 NS government slogan “Ships Start Here”. At the time, NS spent more than $1.4 million in advertising to tout that Irving Shipyard had won a $25 billion 30-year federal contract to build combat ships. 

Back to the Halifax Convention Centre.  We returned to the lobby to take photos of the DEFSEC sponsors’ archway.  Security, in the form of two young women, one in a tight royal blue dress and the other in a frilly flower blouse came over to tell us we were not allowed in the lobby – since it wasn’t public property.  Not public? asked one of my friends.  Didn’t we taxpayers foot the bill for building the Convention Centre – $160 million from three levels of government more than a decade ago?

Not to put too fine a point on it, I reminded the security ladies the taxpayers also bail out the Centre to the tune of  $7.5 million in 2022-2023, and $11.3 million in 2020-2021 because the Convention Centre has lost money every year since it opened in 2017.

I could tell neither the tightly-dressed nor the flower blouse woman was listening.

They said we had to leave the foyer but we were “welcome” to go outside.

Welcome to go outside, really?

Yes, go on the steps, they urged, and talk to people there. 

Some people thanked us for our protest…

A funny thing about the DefSec Convention. From what I could see, attendees were about 90% male. But also entering the centre at 9 am were many women. Turns out the women were doctors or nurses attending the International Symposium on Paediatric Pain.  Not only did most of the women stop, listen to us, and take a leaflet but quite a few thanked us for our protest!

That was nice.

A minute or two later, while we stood on the outside steps, and handed out our pink leaflets Only about half the men going to DefSec took the leaflet.  One man waved me off when I said maybe he’ll ask some questions of the warmongers as he was going to the sessions.  He looked like he was about to cry. He walked back out and told me I was horrible, that  I didn’t know him.  He said he’s a gay activist who attended the counter-protest against the anti-LGBQ at Grand Parade last week.  He even votes NDP – he’s radical — how dare I pass judgement on him?  “I’ll speak to your two polite friends, but I won’t speak to you!” he told me. 

He obviously thinks that because he is part of an oppressed minority and engages in the good fight, that gives him a pass to work for the war industries. What a pretty pass we have come to!

I smiled, as my friend pulled me aside and told me not to antagonize the man –or any conference-goer.

So I sat down on the granite bench with my sign. I tried not to be mean or judgemental.

“We take aviation fuel and turn it into entertainment!”

Then Colin Stephenson, walked outside to speak to us.  He introduced himself as the “showrunner” – what? I was surprised– isn’t that like something on Netflix?  Well, he said, “I also run the Halifax International Airshow.”  Oh so this is entertainment?  He beamed, “Yes we take aviation fuel [referring to our comment that an F-35 burns 5,600 litres per flight hour] and turn it into entertainment!”  (see Colin’s email response to this article at the end of the post)

My fellow protester, well she protested! The jet fuel used for the air show was an environmental hazard.  How did you get here today? Colin said trying to change the channel. “By bus?”  My two friends nodded. “Good for you—you’re helping the planet” he crowed – as if he was grading us.  

Then Colin insisted “evil is everywhere.”  My friend said that was just an excuse for the continuance of war.  Colin said “Well look at Putin – he’s a monster” –my friend scoffed what would Trump be? Colin agreed and said his key goal was to “rid the world of pirates”—I smiled but my friend nudged me not to take the bait. 

Who are the “pirates”?
“All the people in power we don’t like. War is everywhere we are lucky our military protects us!”

Colin Stephenson, see his email response to this post at the end

My friend asked who the “pirates” were?  “All the people in power we don’t like,” Colin answered.  “War is everywhere we are lucky that our military – our navy – protects us. Our parents fought in a war to protect us and our democracy”. Then he came out with his own father’s war record, as if that makes Colin an expert. If I had a dollar for every time a pro-military bimbo told me that, I’d buy a new laptop.

My friend asked from whom are we protecting Canadians? Well the list – according to Colin — was almost endless.  He, as a proud Canadian, also prized Tim Hortons, hockey, sports and entertainment—we had to look at the bright side, he said.  My friend said the hockey juniors were here last winter.  We protested in front of Scotiabank Centre because the juniors  are responsible for covering up for many rapes and sexual assaults against women.  Colin clucked his tongue as if to say “you have to take the good with the bad.”

Then Colin made a big promise to us.  He was going inside the Convention Centre to get his business card for us!   A few minutes later, he was back outside with his card.

He said it had been great talking to us, to get in touch any time – it had been fun.

Sponsors of DEFSEC supply pens, name badges and water bottles

Oh I almost forgot: Here is a partial list of the sponsors for the DEFSEC show. You probably think the sponsors spent big bucks on DEFSEC.  But I have to tell you that’s not so—in fact the sponsors could have had a bake sale to raise their contributions.  For instance, McInnes Cooper (the Halifax law firm) sponsored name badges – that’s right –plastic tags and lanyards at about $5 a pop, for 200 attendees that’s probably only $1,000! 

IMP Aerospace and Defence, also in Halifax, supplied staff clothing to the show. They were blue golf shirts with the DEFSEC logo.  It’s safe to say these were a modest cash outlay.

Not to be outdone, DAVIE Shipbuilder in Lévis, Québec supplied the pens.  That’s right, ink pens for the DEFSEC delegate kits.  Again, it could have cost DAVIE $500-$1,000. The pens echo DAVIE’s motto “More than a Shipbuilder.”

Not to be outdone, NOVA Power Solutions Inc. a Virginia-based company that supplies “mission-critical power protection”, sponsored the water bottles for delegates.  NOVA Power claims, “From specialized mining in Brazil to critical infrastructure in Turkey to communications systems in the Middle East, our team can support you.” 

Other sponsors include Canadian Defence Review magazine, the NS International Air Show Association, INVEST Nova Scotia, Barrier Marine Services, Bluedrop Training and Simulation, Meta (!), Cisco, plus Leonardo Coffee which paid for coffee breaks on the first day and IAI Air and Missile Defence Systems. IAI touts its “active” and “passive” applications (whatever they are). Boeing supplied Not-For-Profit Exhibition Space – I wonder what that was for — maybe it was for the bake sale –after all.

Lockheed Martin sponsored the Wednesday Hour of Good Cheer Reception.  That booze-up maybe cost LM $10,000.  But let’s not forget in January 2023, Lockheed Martin secured the federal contract to supply 88 F-35 fighter jets (for$19 billion–see here and here) to the Canadian military, plus associated equipment and weapons, set-up training and sustainment services.  

Oh yes. At the end of the Sponsors’ list was this tip of the hat (in small print):  “We Are in Mi’kma’ki”. Thanks DEFSEC.

Title at the top: “Let slip the dogs of war” is a phrase spoken by Mark Antony in Act 3, Scene 1, of William Shakespeare‘s Julius Caesar.

Featured image: Did you know that October is National Cookie Month, plus National Caramel Month, plus National Dessert Month, all celebrated in the US? Bake Sale image is from here.

As for Colin Stephenson above, here’s his email response:

Judy I did not like the article. Your bending, cherry picking and misquoting my comments to suit your purposes is very disappointing. You only seem interested in your own perspective. We won’t be communicating further. An opportunity lost.

Colin Stephenson, Executive Director, DEFSEC Atlantic and AirShow Atlantic