When confronted in Barrie this weekend by protesters urging him to respect Parliament and stop deporting US Iraq war resisters, Immigration Minister Jason Kenney told media: "that's democracy, everyone's welcome to freedom of expression."
It seems the Minister has confused democracy with freedom of expression. Polls show a majority of Canadians support US Iraq war resisters, and Parliament passed a motion to stop deporting them and to let them stay in Canada. While Minister Kenney claims to welcome freedom of expression on this issue, he is undermining democracy by deporting war resisters to punishment in the US, against the will of Parliament. Now he threatens with deportation war resister Kimberly Rivera and her entire family, including her three month old Canadian daughter.
The issue is not the freedom of expression of a few protesters, it's the democratic will of Canadians expressed through the highest decision-making body in the country: the House of Commons.
Minister Kenney is welcome to his own opinions, but as an elected official and representative of Canadians he needs to follow democracy. This means respecting Parliament's decision to stop deporting war resisters.
Jesse McLaren, Toronto
If you haven't seen what this refers to, it's here.
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