The Show's focus on aircraft like the B52 Stratofortress (capable of dropping nuclear weapons, napalm and cluster bombs) and the A10 Thunderbolt II (which fires cancer-causing depleted Uranium shells which have been linked to the 'Gulf War Syndrome'), makes it more appropriate to call the HIAS the 'War Show.' This year, the HIAS celebrates war during the United Nations International Year for a Culture of Peace.
  The Air Show bills itself as a family event and promotes a culture of war with their "Kiddie Commando" course, their "Stealth Bomber Mission" movies, and their staged Vietnam-style battle scenes. The HIAS advertises the Show as "Just plane fun on Father's Day" - but we disagree.
  The War Show's website (www.hamiltonairshow.on.ca) says "visitors on flights arriving at Hamilton's International Airport during the upcoming Fathers Day weekend should be excused for thinking they have landed in the middle of a modern military fighter base." Family fun? We don't think children should be exposed to this kind of glorification of violence.
  Why is the War Show a Charity?
  The HIAS owes a huge debt to the taxpayers of Hamilton Wentworth, which is currently being forgiven at a rate of $100,000 a year with funds from the Regional Grants Committee (i.e., tax money). It is also listed with Revenue Canada as a Registered Canadian Charity. All the proceeds from the Show are directed back into the show - no funds are given to charity.
  We believe that the Air Show does not qualify as a charity, since Revenue Canada defines Charitable Purposes under four categories:

1. The relief of poverty.

2. The advancement of religion.

3. The advancement of education. ("The courts recognize a purpose or activity as advancing education when it involves significant training or instruction, develops mental faculties, or improves a branch of human knowledge.... An activity which advances education should involve a full and fair presentation of the facts so people can draw their own conclusions.")

4. Certain other purposes that benefit the community, including disaster relief, elderly care, special needs housing, preserving the environment, protecting the welfare of children, counselling services for people in distress, and so on.

  Clearly the Show is not relieving poverty, advancing religion, or providing the listed benefits to the community.
  We also hold that the War Show is not educational; it is not "a full and fair presentation of the facts" but a one-sided glorifications of western air power. For example, the HIAS's 'tribute to Desert Storm' did not acknowledge the thousands of civilians killed in that conflict. When the HIAS spoke of Kosovo, it was not in terms of humanitarianism, but in terms of the glory of armed combat and sophisticated killing technology.
  As Dundas Mayor John Addison pointed out at Regional Council recently, "those aircraft are built solely for one purpose and that is to kill as many people as possible. Bombs can not differentiate between civilians and military personnel, or children, women, elderly, and people carrying a gun. These are weapons of mass destruction."

Get More/Do More
Please register your concern - you can make a difference!

We urge you to contact Revenue Canada and your Member of Parliament to tell them that the "Hamilton International Air Show Foundation" 92 King Street East, Suite 853, Hamilton ON L8N 1A8, does not deserve to be a Registered Canadian Charity. Please include their Registration Number: 0898510-50, the name of the HIAS Board Chairperson "Wayne Thompson" and as much relevant information as possible.

Send your letter to:

Send a copy to:

You can find e-mail addresses for all Members of Parliament, (listed provincially, by riding), at www.parl.gc.ca/36/senmemb/house/ProvinceList.shtml?Lang=E.

If you write, please also send a copy of your letters to:

You can also ask the Fathers' Day Coalition for Peace about the short video we have produced on the effects of war on children.