"Douglas Roche: why ‘much of my public career has been marked by dissent, and [why] I’m not stopping now’"

Commentary by The Hon. Douglas Roche, O.C.
Published by The Hill Times (subscription required)
November 3, 2025

On October 23, 2025, The Hon. Douglas Roche, O.C. received the Canadian Leadership for Nuclear Disarmament (CLND) 2025 Distinguished Achievement Award. He has devoted himself over many decades to the vital cause of nuclear disarmament and, ultimately, the global abolition of nuclear weapons. CLND is a civil society initiative sponsored by the Canadian Pugwash Group. It is endorsed by more than 1,000 recipients of the Order of Canada who have called for Canada to work for comprehensive negotiations for the elimination of nuclear weapons.

Visit The Hill Times at the link below for this commentary by The Hon. Douglas Roche, O.C., one of The Simons Foundation Canada's Peace Leaders.

"Douglas Roche: why ‘much of my public career has been marked by dissent, 
and [why] I’m not stopping now’"

-"I dissent from the wild disproportion of what the world spends on arms and what it spends on development. I dissent from the anti-humanitarian policies of war for peace. I dissent from the perpetuation of poverty through the greed of the rich. I dissent from the despoliation of the planet by short-sighted industrialism. Most of all, I dissent from the fabric of lies spun by the proponents of nuclear weapons who would have us believe that these heinous instruments of mass murder make us safer."

Additional resources:

Doug Roche's lecture: "Creative Dissent: A Politician’s Struggle for Peace" - full text.

Doug Roche's lecture: "Creative Dissent: A Politician’s Struggle for Peace" - video.

The Hon. Douglas Roche, O.C. is an author and former Canadian Senator, parliamentarian and diplomat, and one of The Simons Foundation Canada's Peace Leaders