Pugwash, Nova Scotia Pugwash, Nova Scotia Pugwash (2012 population: 736) is a village in Cumberland County, Nova Scotia, Canada. The village is home to fishing, salt mining, and small-scale manufacturing and is situated on the Northumberland Strait at the mouth of the Pugwash River. Pugwash takes its name from the native Mi'kmaq word, "Pagweak," meaning "Shallow Water", in reference to a reef near the mouth of the harbour, making navigation through the shallow waters difficult. Pugwash sits atop a salt deposit measuring 457.2 m thick and is home to the largest underground salt mine in Atlantic Canada, with shipments from its port, as
Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs useful role in opening communication channels during a time of otherwise-strained official and unofficial relations. It provided background work to the Partial Test Ban Treaty (1963), the Non-Proliferation Treaty (1968), the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty (1972), the Biological Weapons Convention (1972), and the Chemical Weapons Convention (1993). Former US Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara has credited a backchannel Pugwash initiative (code named PENNSYLVANIA) with laying the groundwork for the negotiations that ended the Vietnam War. Mikhail Gorbachev admitted the influence of the organisation on him when he was leader of the Soviet Union. In addition, Pugwash has been credited with being