Canadian survivor of Hiroshima nuclear bombing to accept Nobel Peace Prize

TORONTO — A Canadian who survived the Second World War nuclear bomb attack on Hiroshima will accept the Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons.

Setsuko Thurlow, 85, was 13-years-old and living in Hiroshima when the U.S. dropped the first of two nuclear weapons on Japan.

Thurlow, who married a Canadian and moved to Toronto in the 1950s, will accept the awards with the executive director of ICAN, Beatrice Fihn, in Oslo, Norway in December.

ICAN says Thurlow has been a leading figure in its movement since its launch in 2007.

ICAN says she played a key role in efforts at the United Nations to adapt a landmark treaty outlawing nuclear weapons.

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Thurlow has campaigned against nuclear weapons for her entire life and said in a release on Thursday that she is “deeply humbled” to be asked to be invited to the Nobel Prize  ceremony.

“It has been such a privilege to work with so many passionate and inspirational ICAN campaigners around the world over the past decade. The Nobel Peace Prize is a powerful tool that we can now use to advance our cause,” she said. 

Nobel said earlier this year that it was recognizing ICAN for its work in drawing attention to the “catastrophic humanitarian consequences of any use of nuclear weapons and for its groundbreaking efforts to achieve a treaty-based prohibition of such weapons.”

The Canadian Press