Defense Research   Establishment - Ottawa

On November 9, the cover was lifted on one of Canada's best kept and most dangerous secrets: the research and development of space warfare at the "Defence" Research Establishment Ottawa (DREO). The secret was revealed despite a heavy police presence including dogs and an airplane, fire and ambulance crews.

The prospect of a protest organized by Homes Not Bombs was enough for management to close down the government-sponsored space warfare facility for the day. Protesters were outnumbered by police but asserted their right to a space for protest on the large lawn in front of the buildings in suburban Nepean.

Homes not Bombs then engaged in a farcical play in which on-the-spot reporter Mary Tart (aka Laurel Smith) from "Bombardment Tonight," on hand to celebrate the "accomplishments" of DREO scientists, instead runs into a group of peace detectives scouring the grounds for clues about space warfare work.

Sure enough, those clues were found and read out to the eager but still skeptical Tart. Meanwhile, as the Homes not Bombs crew moved about the grounds, the police had to continue shifting their line, eventually forced to place hundreds of feet of yellow crime scene tape across a broad swath of grassy area.

This was appropriate, one peace detective pointed out, because DREO's work as a space warfare facility qualifies the area as a crime scene, and police were thanked for their ability to understand this, even if that had not been their intention.

Shortly thereafter, visitors from Venus were welcomed, visitors who had picked up several costumed Wizard of Oz characters in a stray hot air balloon. All commenced to sing songs about why they were at DREO - to help the scientists within use their hearts, brains, and courage to end work for war and help everyone find a home (because "there's no place like home"). They started their journey to see the "Wizard of DREO" by following the Space Warfare Road (missiles and lasers and bombs, oh my!) and immediately ran into a thick line of police officers. Dorothy explained that they had come such a long way and really needed to see the Wizard, because we had to end the threat to humankind posed by space warfare and other research conducted at DREO.

Her plea was ignored, while the surreal theatrics championed by Homes Not Bombs continued. The characters joined a scene in which scientists converted an affordable housing project into a giant missile (egged on by war criminals including George Bush, Bill Clinton, and Jean Chretien). The missile was then used to crash into and destroy another housing project (a symbol of the fact Canada spends almost 800% more on war and armed enforcement of injustice than it does on affordable housing programs).

With the help of the visitors from Venus and the Oz characters, the scientists were eventually convinced to join the community in rebuilding the housing and dismantling the missile.

Dozens of people then moved forward to meet the police line face to face. All carried with them origami peace cranes, which were offered to the police in an attempt to open dialogue and open the door to DREO. When police did not accept these peace gifts, the cranes were placed at the officers' feet, and soon one could see a long line of cranes at the feet of a long line of police.

Two people moved around the line of police, attempting to enter the facility with citizens' weapon inspection forms along with a Pledge of Conscience to End Work for War. They were both stopped before reaching the buildings, arrested and charged with trespass. Matthew Behrens and Andrew Loucks were released later in the day. A court date has not been set.

For more information and Wizard of Oz parody lyrics, contact Homes not Bombs, P.O. Box 73620, 509 St. Clair Avenue West, Toronto, Ontario, M6C 1C0 Canada, (416)651-5800, tasc@web.ca