Modern industrial weapons manufacturing has been around since the dawn of the industrial age and played a central role in the deaths of 90 to 105 million people throughout the course of WWI and WWII. In recent history, the Watson School of International and Public Affairs (n.d.) at Brown’s University estimates that 940,000 people have been killed directly and 3.6-3.8 million people have died indirectly in post-9/11 war zones between 2001 and 2023.

At this exact moment in history, conflicts between states are at their highest level since WWII. The year 2025 has been recorded as the deadliest year since the Cold War, with war-related deaths hitting an astonishing 245,000 (Peace Research Institute Oslo, 2026). In Israel’s genocide alone, there have been 73,420 Palestinian deaths since October 2023 (The Malaysian Reserve, 2026). 

While there are many losers in the brutal game of war, there are a few notable winners. One of those notable winners includes war profiteers. According to the International Encyclopedia of the First World War (n.d.), “War profits originated in wartime markets. Between 1914 and 1918, in order to meet the huge requirements of armaments and logistics of a fifty-two-month-long total war, each belligerent resorted to a mixed system. On the one hand, roughly, the state put in orders to industrialists or go-betweens. On the other hand, it provided supplies of raw materials, transport, or even workers. As a result, working for national defence could basically be seen, by many industrialists in different sectors, both as a heavy task and as a serious opportunity for gain.” Personal gain is the name of their game.

Some of the big war profiteers of the time include Krupp (Germany), Renault, Citroën, Schneider (France), and Vickers and Armstrong (Great Britain). Research shows that war profiteers did not go unchallenged. In fact, it was strongly denounced by soldiers themselves. According to the International Encyclopedia of the First World War, “[…] denouncement was widespread among soldiers, who appear to have been indignant at the enormous profits reaped behind the lines while they endangered their lives […].” War profiteers were dubbed “sharks” who cashed in and at the same time avoided the frontlines (ibid). 

Today’s merchants of death such as, Honeywell, Lockheed Martin and General Dynamics (see American Friend Service Committee for full list of war and genocide profiteers), are up to the same old tricks: manufacture weapons components and systems from a distance and cash in at the bank while people, communities and their local ecosystems get slaughtered in places like Gaza, Iran, northern Syria and southern Lebanon. As the old adage goes: War is good for some, bad for most. 

But it doesn’t have to be this way. One way of transforming this deadly socio-economic, political, and cultural dynamic is through the creation of Zones of Peace. According to Model Diplomat (2026), Zones of Peace can be conceptualized in a multitude of ways as long as the outcome moves parties and communities toward less violence and more cooperation, dialogue, and diplomatic measures such as peaceful negotiations, treaties, and agreements.

Unfortunately for Canadians, Prime Minister Mark Carney is militarizing the economy (Qaidari, 2025), which is the exact opposite of creating Zones of Peace. To make matters worse, Mr. Carney is doing this despite the fact that decades of research have time and again shown that war spending “delivers lower economic multipliers, fewer jobs, and less domestic demand than equivalent investment in civilian sectors like education, healthcare, or infrastructure” (Oberg, 2026). The sheer absence of economic debate over this issue implies ignorance or intentional misrepresentation of leaders in the business of militarizing the economy (ibid.).

As concerned citizens we cannot sit back and wait for political “representatives” to do the right thing. We must act now by publicly denouncing war profiteers, organized violence, genocide, and the militarization of the economy and discover ways of creating Zones of Peace starting with our own cities. This type of political work is consistent with the United Nations' (UN) call to create a culture of peace. The UN invites the global community to “[i]magine a world where every action is guided by love, a clear sense of right and wrong, and genuine care for one another.”   

Implementing a culture of peace in the heart of Mississauga, Ontario, through the concrete process of repurposing industrial sites committed to manufacturing war technologies constitutes an ideal starting ground. According to Invest Mississauga, the City of Mississauga is home to over 60 defence-ready companies that bring together aerospace and naval production, advanced electronics, cybersecurity, and autonomous technologies. 

At the moment, the City of Mississauga is being transformed into a war-making ecosystem. If concerned citizens can repurpose Mississauga’s industrial base into a non-militarized economy, we can transform any city across the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) and across the world. With citizen unification, a clear vision, and mounting political pressure, anything is possible. There is no reason to believe otherwise, as history is filled with concrete examples of progress via citizen political activation (e.g., the Civil Rights Movement, the Anti-Apartheid Movement, the Women's Suffrage Movement, and many more). In direct accordance with the UN’s mandate, our project’s objective is clear: Make peace one city and industry at a time.

Alongside Demilitarized Zones (DMZ) and Nuclear-Weapons-Free Zones (Model Diplomat, 2026), we are striving to make Mississauga, Ontario, the first Weapons-Manufacturing-Free Zone in all of Canada. As concerned citizens, we call upon the Mayor of Mississauga, Carolyn Parrish, and all city councillors to support the creation of the first Weapons-Manufacturing-Free Zone in Canada.

We call upon the mayor and city councillors to not only support this but also draft a step-by-step plan that repurposes existing weapons manufacturers into manufacturers of peace and environmental sustainability. Instead of manufacturing weapons systems and components, let’s repurpose industrial labour toward high-end medical instruments like robotic surgery arms, prosthetic limbs for our brothers and sisters in war-torn countries, and green energy systems designed to save lives and the planet from environmental collapse.

Together, we can build the first Weapons-Manufacturing-Free Zone in the City of Mississauga. This is a concrete step toward building a world without war profiteers, weapons, war, and genocide. Let’s start at home and inspire citizens around the world to do the same in their cities. This is what building a true culture of peace looks like in practice.