Editor's Note: The term "historic" is applied far too loosely to events that some authors wish to magnify in importance. But the vote by the Canadian parliament to give U.S. war resisters asylum and Canadian citizenship is worthy of the term. After all, this action holds an important place in history. During the U.S. war on the people of Vietnam, Canada opened its borders to 50,000 - 80,000 who refused to fight and fled court marshal and imprisonment in the US. Many of them fled to Canada after being drafted into the US miilitary and refused to fight in Vietnam. Many of these never returned to the U.S. and lived out their lives in Canada.
The War Resisters' Support Campaign in Toronto says they know of about 200 Iraq war resisters currently in Canada, seeking asylum. These figures represent people who changed their minds after joining the U.S. military and/or after experiencing the horror of this war in Iraq. There may be many more like them who remain underground. 5 news articles by the corporate media are included below with their various twists and spins on this story. The bottom line in all of them is that the parliament in Canada, often touted to be the fav ally of the U.S., has made a historic decision.
Below the 5 news bulletins, you will find an article by "Soldier Say No" and "Project Safe Haven" which provides the reader with contact information to the parliament and other officials in Canada. Readers are encouraged to contact the government to thank those who support US war resisters and to urge the Harper Conservatives to do the same.
- Les Blough, Editor
NDP motion to let war resisters stay passes
3 Jun 2008
NDP New Democratic Party
OTTAWA – Iraq War Resisters residing in Canada received overwhelming support from the House of Commons following today’s passage of an NDP motion to let them stay in the country.
NDP Citizenship and Immigration critic, Olivia Chow’s (Trinity-Spadina) motion reflected ordinary Canadians’ belief that George Bush’s war in Iraq is wrong and that resisters should not be deported to jail.
The motion calls on the Harper Conservatives to allow American war resisters who have refused or left military service related to the illegal invasion of Iraq and their immediate family members to stay in Canada and be able to become permanent residents. Furthermore, the motion would force the government to immediately withdraw any removal or deportation orders against War Resisters.
NDP MP Bill Siksay (Burnaby Douglas), moved a similar motion a year ago on May 8, 2007 at the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration. His motion was rejected by the Conservatives, Liberals and Bloc.
Through ongoing campaigns and mobilizations, supporters have finally been able to sway the Liberal and Bloc vote in support of the war resisters
“Ordinary people want the Iraq war resisters to stay,” said Chow. “The Harper Conservatives must respect this and immediately implement this motion.”
Attention News/Assignment/International Affairs/House of Commons Editors:
CNW Group
House of Commons votes to let U.S. War Resisters stay in Canada
OTTAWA, June 3 /CNW/ - The Opposition parties in the House of Commons joined together today to adopt a recommendation which, if implemented, would make it possible for U.S. Iraq War resisters to obtain Permanent Resident status in Canada.
The recommendation was adopted by a majority of Members of Parliament from the Liberal, Bloc Québécois, and New Democratic Parties. The Conservatives voted against the motion.
The motion, which originated in the House of Commons Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration in December 2007, calls on the government to "immediately implement a program to allow conscientious objectors and their immediate family members...to apply for permanent resident status and remain in Canada; and...the government should immediately cease any removal or deportation actions...against such individuals."
Corey Glass, 25, a war resister who came to
"This is a great victory for the courageous men and women who have come to Canada because they refuse to take part in the illegal, immoral Iraq War, and for the many organizations and individuals who have supported this campaign over the past four years," said Lee Zaslofsky, Coordinator of the War Resisters Support Campaign and a Vietnam War deserter who came to Canada in 1970.
The War Resisters Support Campaign is calling on the Conservative government to respect the democratic decision of the Canadian Parliament and immediately implement the motion and cease deportation proceedings against Corey Glass and other war resisters.
For further information: Michelle Robidoux, (416) 856-5008; Lee
Zaslofsky, (416) 598-1222 or (415) 369-0864
http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/
archive/June2008/03/c7865.html
Canada's parliament votes to grant asylum to US war resisters AFP News Briefs List
Canada's parliament votes to grant asylum to US war resisters
Parliament on Tuesday voted to allow US resisters of the Iraq war who fled to Canada to stay in this country, thus avoiding military court-martial in the United States.
The non-binding motion passed 137 to 110, with support from all three opposition parties, which hold a majority of seats in the House.
It urged the government to allow conscientious objectors "who have refused or left military service related to a war not sanctioned by the United Nations" to stay in Canada.
"Canada has always been a place which has welcomed those who seek peace and who seek freedom," opposition Liberal MP Bob Rae told reporters.
"This country should continue to recognize conscientious objectors, particularly to a war which international law has held to be illegal and which this country chose by an act of deliberate policy, chose not to join," he said.
"And if they want to choose to become Canadian, Canadian landed immigrants, they should be allowed to do so."
Canada previously welcomed tens of thousands of American draft dodgers during the Vietnam War era.
But Canada's Immigration and Refugee Board has said more recently, in a decision supported last year by the federal court, that US asylum seekers are not conventional refugees under UN High Commissioner for Refugees rules, nor in need of protection.
Accordingly, their refugee claims have been denied.
As many as 200 Iraq War resisters are said to be currently in Canada, many of them living underground.
A former US military intelligence sergeant who came to Canada in August 2006 after serving in Iraq is expected this month to be the first to be deported, said the War Resisters Support Campaign.
http://www.france24.com/en/
20080604-canadas-parliament-votes-
grant-asylum-us-war-resisters
Canadian MPs support U.S. Iraq objectors
OTTAWA, June 4 (UPI) -- The Canadian House of Commons passed a symbolic resolution Tuesday that U.S. military deserters who object to the Iraq War should be allowed to remain.
The motion sponsored by Olivia Chow of the New Democratic Party urges the Conservative government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper to allow war resisters and their immediate families to become permanent residents.
"Ordinary people want the Iraq war resisters to stay," said Chow. "The Harper Conservatives must respect this and immediately implement this motion."
While Canada has troops in Afghanistan, the country refused to join the U.S. "coalition of the willing" in Iraq.
About 200 U.S. soldiers who object to serving in Iraq are believed to be in Canada, including Corey Glass, who was notified last month that he had been denied refugee status, the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. reported. Glass, a U.S. Army sergeant, fled to Canada while on leave in Indiana after serving five months in Iraq. The resolution has no effect on his case.
http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/Top_News/
2008/06/04/canadian_mps_support_us_iraq_objectors/9495/
Canada Lawmakers Ask Harper to Let War Resisters Stay (Update1)
By Greg Quinn
June 3 (Bloomberg) -- Canadian lawmakers passed a non- binding resolution aimed at pressuring the government to freeze deportations of U.S. soldiers who fled to Canada after refusing to fight in the war in Iraq.
Opposition parties with a majority of seats in Parliament asked the government to allow ``conscientious objectors'' to wars not sanctioned by the United Nations, such as the Iraq conflict, to apply for permanent resident status. The resolution urges the Conservative Party government to stop deportations ordered by immigration tribunals. The motion passed by 137 to 110, with the Conservatives voting against.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who came to power in 2006 promising improved relations with the U.S., hasn't tried to overturn any tribunal decisions ordering U.S. resisters deported. The vote conjures up controversial images from the Vietnam War era, when Canada took in thousands of Americans seeking to avoid being drafted or serving when called.
"Let's hope that public pressure ultimately produces change in policy by the government,'' New Democratic Party Leader Jack Layton told reporters yesterday outside Parliament.
So far, fewer than 40 Americans have claimed refugee status in Canada because they object to fighting in the Iraq War, according to Danielle Norris, a spokeswoman for Canada's immigration department in Ottawa. The five people who agreed to release details of their cases were denied, she said.
`Well-Founded Fear'
Canadian law requires refugee claimants to demonstrate a "well-founded fear of persecution'' such as torture or death should they be sent back to their home countries, Norris said. Officials also rely on a UN handbook that says they should consider whether soldiers were drafted into service or volunteered, as in the case of Iraq, she said.
The U.S. Army's maximum penalty for desertion is five years in confinement, dishonorable discharge and loss of all pay and benefits, according to information e-mailed by Maj. Nathan Banks, an army spokesman in Washington.
Banks declined to comment on the Canadian motion. The U.S. embassy in Ottawa referred a telephone call seeking comment to the military.
The Toronto-based War Resisters Support Campaign estimates there are as many as 200 American Iraq war resisters in Canada. According to a May 22 report in the Toronto Star, 25-year-old Corey Glass is the lone resister ordered deported whose departure has been scheduled.
Canada's 2003 Decision
Former Liberal Party Prime Minister Jean Chretien in 2003 refused to send troops to join the war in Iraq because the invasion wasn't backed by the UN, breaking with the U.S. and U.K., traditionally Canada's closest allies. Another Liberal prime minister, Pierre Trudeau, welcomed Vietnam War objectors after his predecessor Lester B. Pearson failed to persuade the U.S. to find a mediated settlement to the conflict.
Canada took in between 50,000 and 80,000 Americans during the war in Southeast Asia, according to the War Resisters Support Campaign. Canada's immigration department didn't have figures immediately available on that era.
"We have been undertaking political action and public mobilization in order to get a political solution to the problem, and that's what the vote is about,'' said Lee Zaslofsky, national coordinator for the war resisters' group. Before the vote, he said it would be "a very big breakthrough for the campaign and the war resisters if the elected representatives of the Canadian people speak on their behalf.''
Zaslofsky, 63, came to Canada from the U.S. in 1970 and sought permanent resident status, after finishing military training in South Carolina and being ordered to report for duty in Vietnam.
"You could apply right at the border,'' he said, adding that the paperwork took just 45 minutes. ``It was surprisingly easy.''
To contact the reporter on this story: Greg Quinn in Ottawa at gquinn1@bloomberg.net.
Last Updated: June 3, 2008 16:12 EDT
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601082&sid=afg4ID70jMEE&refer=canada
Tuesday, June 03, 2008
Big Victory for U.S. War Resisters in Canada!
Today, the Canadian Parliament made a historic vote in favor of U.S. war resisters who are seeking a safe haven in Canada rather than fight in the illegal occupation of Iraq. The vote in the House of Commons was 137-110, with all the opposition parties - the Liberal Party, the New Democratic Party, the Bloc Quebecois and the Green Party - voting for the motion, and the ruling Conservative Party voting against.
The Parliament called on the minority Conservative government to create a program that will allow war resisters to immigrate to Canada, and it also called for a halt to all deportation proceedings.
This is a VERY BIG victory for war resisters in Canada and everywhere. It will strengthen our hand considerably.
But the struggle for sanctuary in Canada is far from over. The Conservative government, a staunch ally of the Bush administration, may choose to defy the will of the Canadian people by ignoring this advisory motion.
Corey Glass, an Iraq veteran and war resister, was recently ordered to leave Canada by June 12 or face deportation.
So even as we celebrate this victory, we must step up the pressure on Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Immigration Minister Diane Finley. [See action alert from War Resisters Support Campaign, below, along with their press release and a news article.]
Yes, it does help for the Canadian government to hear from many people in the U.S. who want them to provide sanctuary for our war resisters. Courage To Resist (www.couragetoresist.org) has generated thousands of letters from people in the U.S. to Canadian government and political leaders and these have clearly helped, as have the vigils and delegations to the Canadian Embassy in Washington and Canadian Consulates around the U.S.
Project Safe Haven, a network of Vietnam War resisters who are supporting war resisters today, is calling for people to contact Canadian representatives in the U.S. this week.
* THANK the Canadian people and their Parliament for supporting our war resisters.
* CALL on the Conservative government to follow the will of the Canadian people and implement this motion.
* DEMAND an end to deportation proceedings against Corey Glass and other war resisters.
You can visit the Canadian Consulate in person.
In Seattle, we will have a Celebration outside of the Canadian Consulate, 1501 4th Ave. at Pike St., on Thursday, June 5, at noon. There will also be vigils and delegations in several other cities.
And you can call them, fax them, or email them.
Canadian Consular offices are in over 20 U.S. cities. Here are their addresses, phone numbers, and email addresses. http://geo.international.gc.ca/can-am/washington/offices/default-en.asp
If you want to participate in visits to the Canadian Embassy or Consulates, please send an email to projectsafehaven@hotmail.com or call Gerry Condon at 206-499-1220.
If you are a member of Iraq Veterans Against the War or Veterans For Peace, you may want to get in touch with your local chapter or national office to let them know you want to participate, and to help organize these events.
U.S. war resisters and their wonderful Canadian supporters have won a historic victory. By acting decisively at this time, we in the U.S. can participate in this victory and help to make it an even bigger one.
Thank you for whatever you may be able to do at this time.
for peace and justice,
Gerry Condon
(206) 499-1220.
Soldier Say No / Project Safe Haven