today: day of action in support of iraq war resisters in canada

The Campaign is on the verge of a huge victory, and it didn't materialize out of thin air.

Tomorrow's historic vote in the House of Commons will be the product of years of patient hard work and dedication on the part of Campaigners, resisters and supporters - community organizations, labour unions, faith groups - peace activists, immigration activists and regular old concerned people.

One thing is extremely obvious: public support - letters, emails, phone calls, and petitions - has made all the difference. I can't emphasize this enough.

Some Members of Parliament have supported the war resisters all along. The NDP and the Bloc have been on board from the start. But although some Liberal MPs did personally support allowing Iraq War resisters to remain in Canada, the Liberal Party was noncomittal. Now they have made it their issue.

The Liberals didn't change their stance only because it was the right thing to do. They were persuaded that it was politically advantageous for them to do so.

So what I'm asking you to do today is not an empty exercise. It's how we have built this movement and how we will win.

Today, we need to ensure two things: that all of our MPs know how we want them to vote tomorrow, and that the Harper government knows how we feel.

Canadian readers, today, please take a few moments and make three phone calls. Please call and e-mail:

1. Your own Member of Parliament. Tell her or him that you want them to support the motion and appear for the vote in the House of Commons on Tuesday.

Find your MP's contact info here or Google their name for their website and contact info.

2. Minister of Citizenship and Immigration Diane Finley
613.996.4974
finley.d@parl.gc.ca / finled1@parl.gc.ca

3. Prime Minister Stephen Harper
613.992.4211
pm@pm.gc.ca

Tell them you want the Government of Canada to:

drop the deportation order against US war resister Corey Glass, and cease all deportation proceedings against war resisters,

support US war resisters, not Bush's war in Iraq, and

support the motion to allow Iraq war resisters to remain in Canada.

As wmtc readers have said in comments, if you are not familiar with calling your representatives, it is very painless! You can say something like "I live in ____ and I'd like to leave a message for _____." (Sometimes the first person who answers has to transfer you to someone else.) Then say "I'm calling to urge ______ to _____."

The person on the other end is always friendly and will say nothing more than "thank you for calling, I'll pass on your concerns". You don't even have to leave your name if you don't want to.

Readers outside of Canada, you can call the nearest Canadian embassy and leave the same message. Here is a list of Canadian embassies in the U.S. In other countries, Google "Canadian Embassy in [your country]".

Thank you! Tomorrow I will be in Ottawa for the vote; Allan will update wmtc as we have info.

the truth about the supposedly volunteer u.s. army

From the Rutland (Vermont) Herald:

Because of the arrogant, corrupt lies of George W. Bush and his neocon handlers my nephew is dead, and I am mad as hell.

My nephew, my sister's son, died in Iraq a few days before this Memorial Day.

Jason Dene was not killed by enemy fire nor friendly fire but by Bush's brutal and cynical stop-loss program.

Jason grew up in Orwell and Rutland. He was in his mid-30s, a career Army officer due retire next month. His wife and children were planning his homecoming.

Because of Bush's abusive stop-loss policy, Jason had been sent into an unwanted third tour of duty. He was a father of three and could not afford to lose his pension. Some "volunteer Army".

During his three 15-month tours in Iraq, exposure to roadside bombs and other job-related injuries caused Jason to be hospitalized several times for concussion and internal bleeding and other injuries. Recently, Jason's condition was such that the Department of Defense flew him from Iraq to Dover Air Force Base for surgery. He was released from the hospital into the loving arms of the government who sent him directly back into Iraq. He was put on active duty while he was still on a liquid diet, unable to eat solid food because of a throat hemorrhage due to a botched surgery at a military hospital.

To date all the family has heard from the Army is that Jason variously died "in his sleep" and "in his bunk" and "in his quarters" and my favorite "sleep apnea complicated by smoking cigarettes," in other words, natural causes.

After his second tour Jason returned home with severe mental and physical issues. He was certainly in no condition to be pressed into a third tour. He wanted out of the army. But Jason was a victim of the liar's back-door draft.

The administration knows the war could not continue if the draft was reinstated, hence the criminally deceptive stop-loss program. At all costs, the administration wants to avoid Vietnam-scale student protests. In this case the cost fell on Jason, whose death will not be included as a war casualty. Jason Dene will not be buried at Arlington National Cemetery; he will just sort of ... disappear quietly (they hope).

How many others have died in Iraq of "natural causes," the soldiers we will never hear about?

Because of George Bush, the arrogant, the corrupt, the liar, the war criminal, my nephew is dead and my sister and the rest of my family are devastated.

Yes, I am very, very angry. How would you feel?

Patrick V. Farrow
Castleton, Vermont

Patrick Farrow is the brother of actor and activist Mia Farrow. Jason Dene was their nephew.

Thank you to Greg Mitchell, editor of Editor and Publisher and a steadfast steadfast voice for peace, for highlighting this and to Allan for the heads-up.

war resisters visit minister finley

This weekend, a group of resisters and campaigners did their usual tabling and petitioning in an unusual place: the small town of Port Dover, Ontario. Near Simcoe, in Norfolk County, on the shores of Lake Erie, Port Dover is a Conservative riding.

Port Dover's Member of Parliament is the Honourable Diane Finley, Minister of Citizenship and Immigration.

In this small, mostly Conservative town, people went out of their way to sign the petition in support of allowing Iraq War resisters to stay in Canada, to donate money, to meet the war resisters and wish them well. Of course support was not unanimous. But it was strong.

Here's a video snapshot of the day.

If When things go our way on Tuesday - when the House of Commons votes in favour of resolution - Ms. Finley is going to be hearing a lot from us.

eyes on the prize

After a huge organizing and strategy meeting with the War Resisters Support Campaign, I am thinking of the lyrics to a song from the US civil rights movement. Most recently, Bruce Springsteen recorded it as part of "We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions".

"The Seeger Sessions" is a tribute to legendary folk singer and activist Pete Seeger, and to people's movements in general. Springsteen took some standard (and, frankly, dusty) folk tunes and cranked them full of rootsy rythmn. The results bubble with the sounds of gospel, country, Irish, mountain and blues music.

Eyes On The Prize is also the title of an amazing documentary about the civil rights movement, created by activist producer Henry Hampton.

Anyway, these are the lines going through my head.

The only thing that I did wrong
Was stayin' in the wilderness too long
(Keep your eyes on the prize... hold on)

The only thing that we did right
Was the day we started to fight
(Keep your eyes on the prize... hold on)

Note the shift from the singular I to the plural we.

For the past year, it has been my honour and privilege to be part of this we. We are so close to winning this fight. This will be a win for war resistance - a win for Canada - a win for peace.

More soon. Get ready to help us.

welcome to the blogosphere, kim in t.o.

Friend of wmtc Kim_In_TO has graduated from commenter-only to blogger!

My Canada Includes Justice is where Kim K will be "fighting war, racism, sexism, homophobia, and injustice - anywhere and everywhere". Nicely done!

ssod

Search string of the day:

brazil tribe never seen humans

They are humans, dimwit!

watch what you say, watch what you wear

From the Please Tell Me This Is A Parody department, Dunkin' Donuts has pulled online ads featuring Food Network personality Rachael Ray because fascist social critic Michelle Malkin is offended by Ray's clothing. Too much clevage? An exposed nipple, perhaps? Nothing that simple.

In the ad, Ray is wearing a black and white scarf. The hatemongering Malkin thinks that scarf looks like a kaffiyeh, which is worn in the Middle East. And to Malkin, that can only mean one thing: terrorism.

As quoted on the CBC website (you can be sure I'm not going to link to her blog, there's not enough valium on the planet), Malkin said, the kaffiyeh "has come to symbolize murderous Palestinian jihad."

Equating a popular Middle Eastern garment with terrorism is bad enough, but Malkin doesn't stop there.

"Popularized by Yasser Arafat and a regular adornment of Muslim terrorists appearing in beheading and hostage-taking videos, the apparel has been mainstreamed by both ignorant [and not-so-ignorant] fashion designers, celebrities and left-wing icons."

The scarf is worn by Arabs, Arabs are terrorists, therefore the scarf means terorrism. "Left-wing icons" wear the scarf, so... what's the only logical conclusion here? Progressive people are terrorists.

This is typical Malkin fare, but keep in mind it didn't end on her blog. After some attempts at damage control, Dunkin' Donuts pulled the ad. This is the power these hatemongers have over present day popular culture.

I'll certainly tell Dunkin' Donuts how I feel about this. Please take a minute to do the same.

uncontacted people seen in brazil, peru

An amazing story has emerged from South America. One of the world's few remaining uncontacted indigenous tribes has been photographed on the border between Brazil and Peru. Survival International, an international movement to support tribal peoples, says that more than half the world's remaining uncontacted tribes live in Brazil or Peru.

The group's director, Stephen Corry, says such tribes will soon be wiped out if their land is not protected. The people revealed in these photos are at risk from illegal logging. Corry described the threats to such tribes and their land as "a monumental crime against the natural world" and "further testimony to the complete irrationality with which we, the 'civilised' ones, treat the world".

The photos were first revealed by BBC News, but I thought the Globe and Mail did a better job with it today.

Brazil's government agreed to release stunning photos of Amazon Indians firing arrows at an airplane so that the world can better understand the threats facing one of the few tribes still living in near-total isolation from civilization, officials said yesterday.

Anthropologists have known about the group for about 20 years but released the images now to call attention to fast-encroaching development near the Indians' home in the dense jungles near Peru.

"We put the photos out because if things continue the way they are going, these people are going to disappear," said Jose Carlos Meirelles, who co-ordinates government efforts to protect four "uncontacted" tribes for Brazil's National Indian Foundation.

Shot in late April and early May, the foundation's photos show about a dozen Indians, mostly naked, wielding bows and arrows outside six grass-thatched huts. Mr. Meirelles said in a phone interview that anthropologists know next to nothing about the group, but suspect it is related to the Tano and Aruak tribes.

The foundation believes there may be as many as 68 uncontacted groups around Brazil, although only 24 have been officially confirmed.

Anthropologists say almost all of these tribes know about Western civilization and have sporadic contact with prospectors, rubber tappers and loggers, but choose to turn their backs on civilization, usually because they have been attacked.

The four tribes monitored by Mr. Meirelles include perhaps 500 people who roam an area of about 630,000 hectares. He said that over the 20 years he has been working in the area, the number of malocas, or grass-roofed huts, has doubled, suggesting that the policy of isolation is working and that populations are growing.

Remaining isolated, however, gets more complicated by the day. Loggers are closing in on the Indians' homeland. Brazil's environmental protection agency said yesterday that it had shut down 28 illegal sawmills in Acre state, where the tribes are located. And logging on the Peruvian border has sent many Indians fleeing into Brazil, Mr. Meirelles said.

A new road being paved from Acre into Peru will likely bring in hordes of poor settlers. Other Amazon roads have led to 50 kilometres of rain forest being cut down on each side, scientists say.

While uncontacted Indians often respond violently to contact - Mr. Meirelles caught an arrow in the face from some of the same Indians in 2004 - the greater threat is to the Indians.

"First contact is often completely catastrophic for uncontacted tribes. It's not unusual for 50 per cent of the tribe to die in months after first contact," said Miriam Ross, a campaigner with the Indian rights group Survival International.

More here, with some information about the people themselves.

It's almost overwhelming to think of uncontacted people surviving into the 21st Century - and possibly no further.

Illegal logging is not a simple issue. The loggers themselves are usually poor Andean people. They work for criminally low pay, under extremely dangerous conditions, reporting to a chain of middle-men that ends with a multinational corporation. But they themselves are offered few alternatives (if any) for their own survival. Because I met Andean people in Peru, I think about how stricter logging enforcement would effect them. It should be done, of course, but what will the Brazilian or Peruvian governments do for its victims?

For more information on tribal people - including these recently recently aerial photos - see Survival International. Survival's blog is here.

"an issue of international law"

These letters to the editor ran in the Toronto Star last week. All three letters were in support of allowing Iraq War resisters to remain in Canada.

U.S. Iraq war resister Corey Glass was told on May 21 that his application to stay in Canada has been rejected and he now faces deportation. Glass would be the first Iraq war resister to be deported from Canada.

This is not just an immigration or moral issue – it is an issue of international law. Former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan called the Iraq war illegal, and the war crimes and crimes against humanity that have occurred throughout the war are well-documented.

Canada cannot pretend to support international law while denying sanctuary to those fleeing war crimes and crimes against humanity. If we expect individuals to uphold international law, then it follows that we must support them and provide sanctuary when they believe they are being asked to do something that violates international law.

If we fail to do so, then we lose all right to prosecute individuals for crimes they have committed, and the Nuremberg principles and the International Criminal Court will cease to have relevance.

I am saddened and ashamed by the failure of our current immigration/refugee system and our Supreme Court to understand this, and by their seeming insistence that languishing for years in a military prison is not persecution.

It is time for new legislation in Ottawa that clearly outlines our commitments and responsibilities under international law. Providing sanctuary to those fleeing from acts they believe are unlawful should be addressed as an immediate priority.

Jillian Skeet, Vancouver, B.C.

I am writing concerning the decision to refuse to allow U.S. Iraq war resister Corey Glass to stay in Canada. I am extremely saddened and angry to hear that our government has refused to grant him sanctuary. Did our country not refuse to participate in the Iraq war because we sided with the UN in declaring this to be an illegal and unjust war? Yet by sending Glass back to the U.S., we are basically giving a message to the United States that we agree that Glass and others like him should either have to go back to fighting this unjust and illegal war or be imprisoned for refusing to do so. That is pure hypocrisy on the part of our government. If we want to be consistent in our stance against the Iraq war, we must provide sanctuary for resisters like Glass.

Naomi Berlyne, Toronto

In refusing to provide a haven for Americans refusing to serve in Iraq, the government is violating the principles laid down at Nuremberg. The Iraq attack and subsequent occupation is a war crime. As stated at Nuremberg by the allied judiciary, it is the duty of armed services personnel to refuse to obey orders to commit a war crime. This government is betraying everything Canadian soldiers fought and died for in World War II. The Harper government is not only a disgrace to Canada, it is a disgrace to humanity.

Bill Prestwich, Dundas, Ont.

john hagan: let's provide a haven

John Hagan is the author of Northern Passage: American Vietnam War Resisters in Canada. He spoke at our event in January, coming in from Chicago to support the cause of war resisters in Canada.

John brings an important historical perspective which should inform the debate over Iraq War resisters. As the Conservatives repeat ad nauseum "but they volunteered" and "Vietnam was different," they would do well to study what John Hagan can teach us.

This piece will run in Saturday's Globe and Mail. Please follow the link and click yes for "recommend this article?" at the bottom of the story. It can help increase visibility.

Let's provide a haven for those who chose not to fight in Iraq

John Hagan
May 30, 2008

The Liberals' Bob Rae recently joined the NDP's Olivia Chow and others in urging Parliament to pass a motion allowing American Iraq war resisters, such as Corey Glass, to stay in Canada. Last week, Mr. Glass was refused refugee status and became the first Iraq war resister to be scheduled for deportation.

Mr. Rae and Ms. Chow's plea for action recalled Pierre Trudeau and David Lewis's leadership at crucial moments of the Vietnam War. Then, as now, it took several years to build support and acceptance for American military deserters, as well as draft resisters. Beginning in the mid-1960s, war resisters who came to Canada before being drafted ("dodgers") readily received landed immigrant status. But until 1969, military resisters ("deserters") were treated differently – because they left the armed forces and faced charges of desertion.

Allan MacEachen, as minister of immigration, initially directed immigration officers to refuse U.S. military resisters entry as landed immigrants. He reasoned that when such resisters left their units, they broke moral and legal contractual obligations to serve in their nation's armed forces.

Political and religious leaders ultimately persuaded Mr. MacEachen that distinctions between military and draft resisters were irrelevant for Canadian purposes. References to "dodgers" and "deserters" had no legal meaning in Canada. The Immigration Act made no reference of any kind to military service as grounds for prohibiting entry to Canada.

Canadians at the time questioned the Vietnam War, and Mr. Glass echoed those sentiments when he said last week "what I saw in Iraq convinced me that the war is illegal and immoral. I could not in good conscience continue to take part in it."

Ms. Chow and Mr. Rae recalled Canada's history of refuge and sanctuary when they spoke during a gathering in January at a United Church in Toronto. United Church, Mennonite, Jewish, Quaker, Unitarian and other religious groups support today's Iraq war resisters – just as they did the Vietnam War resisters 40 years ago. The gathering heard from such resisters as Kimberly Rivera, who brushed back tears as she expressed gratitude for her sanctuary with her young children in Canada. She explained that she joined the American military because she was jobless and needed health care for her children. It is tendentious to call her service a free or voluntary choice. Recruiters coaxed and lied to Ms. Rivera about a war she eventually concluded was immoral. U.S. government “stop-loss” orders have added and extended nearly 100,000 tours of service in Iraq, and this back-door draft is only one among many ways in which service in Iraq can be involuntary.

Late last year, Liberal MP Jim Karygiannis put forward a motion in Parliament's standing committee on citizenship and immigration to allow resisters of wars not sanctioned by the UN to stay in Canada. Opposition party MPs joined ranks to pass the motion, which should soon be brought to a vote in Parliament.

Minus such legislation, Iraq war resisters will be unable to legalize their status in Canada and will remain mired in the same bureaucratic process as Mr. Glass.

It's a never-ending story, as the Vietnam War migration to Canada shows. Even though president Jimmy Carter unconditionally pardoned American Vietnam draft resisters when he came to office, his pardon for military resisters required them to return to their units within six months to apply for a less-than-honourable discharge. Most Vietnam resisters in Canada refused the offer and remain here to this day. Stories of abuse in U.S. military prisons were rampant, and any who returned risked imprisonment. When retired Winnipeg mechanic Randall Caudill paid a short visit to his daughter in the U.S. in 1997, nearly 30 years after leaving the Marines and coming to Canada, he was arrested and held for trial. Following months of diplomatic inquiries by the Canadian government, he finally received a bad-conduct discharge and was allowed to return to his wife in Canada.

In an era of harsh interrogation, extraordinary rendition, and detention without trial, few American Vietnam or Iraq war resisters want to return to the United States. They just want to get on with their lives in Canada. Parliament can remedy the situation of Iraq war resisters by voting in favour of the motion recommending that a new generation of U.S. war resisters be allowed to apply for permanent residence so that they can stay in Canada.

I often wonder how things might have turned out differently in the spring of 1969. The government could have forced American Vietnam War resisters to leave the country; the RCMP could have forcibly delivered Vietnam-era resisters into the hands of American authorities.

Imagine today a YouTube video of the RCMP handing over Ms. Rivera and her young children to the U.S. authorities. Or worse, imagine this being done in secret. Yet this threat of deportation confronts Ms. Rivera and her fellow American Iraq war resisters. They could be turned over by Canadian authorities to the U.S. military for interrogation and punishment.

Ms. Chow and Mr. Rae, like Mr. Lewis and Mr. Trudeau before them, offer a leadership that rejects this fate while supporting the sovereign right of Canada to provide refuge and sanctuary to individuals who, like the UN and Canada, chose not to approve or join in the pre-emptive U.S. war in Iraq.

house of commons to vote on war resisters tuesday june 3

Yesterday's debate in Parliament is now available online.

We were glued to the TV set all morning - including, for a while, placing the phone in front of the speaker so Campaigners en route to Ottawa could listen! It was thrilling to hear our issue take front and centre stage, to see MPs standing up and reading the words of the war resisters in Parliament.

It was a little anti-climactic when the vote wasn't called, but we'll only have to chew our fingernails a few more days. Tuesday afternoon, June 3, the House of Commons will vote on the motion to allow US war resisters to remain in Canada.

Once again, the motion reads:

The Committee recommends that the government immediately implement a program to allow conscientious objectors and their immediate family members (partners and dependents), who have refused or left military service related to a war not sanctioned by the United Nations and do not have a criminal record, to apply for permanent resident status and remain in Canada; and that the government should immediately cease any removal or deportation actions that may have already commenced against such individuals.

Things are looking good, but our fight is not yet over. With your help, we have gotten this far; now we're asking for a little more, so we can push this through.

Today, Monday and Tuesday, please add two phone calls to your to-do list: Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Minister of Citizenship and Immigration Diane Finley.

As wmtc commenters have pointed out, these phone calls are not scary or time-consuming. Someone will answer the phone, you'll tell them why you're calling, say thanks and hang up. You may even speak to voice mail; that works, too. It will take less than a minute per phone call. But it may make a big difference in the lives of many people. It's a concrete action you can take to stand for peace.

Minister of Citizenship and Immigration Diane Finley
phone 613.996.4974
fax 613.996.9749
email finley.d@parl.gc.ca

Prime Minister Stephen Harper
phone 613.992.4211
fax 613.941.6900
email pm@pm.gc.ca

The them you want the Government of Canada to:

rescind the deportation order against US war resister Corey Glass, and immediately cease all deportation proceedings against all war resisters

support the motion to allow Iraq war resisters to remain in Canada, and

support the will of the Canadian people, and not the US's war agenda.

You can also call your own MP with the same message. No matter what their party, they should hear from you.

don't like a ruling? get rid of the judge!

When explaining why the Iraq War resisters should be sent back to the US, the standard Tory fallback position is that the US is a democratic nation governed by the rule of law. They say all the war resisters will be given due process.

As I recall, that was Stockwell Day's excuse for not coming to the aid of Ronald Allen Smith, a Canadian citizen on death row in Montana.

Today that supposedly democratic nation showed us yet again how their rule of law works.

The U.S. military judge presiding over the trial of Canadian terrorism suspect Omar Khadr has been fired, said Khadr's lawyer.

In a news release issued Thursday, Lt.-Cmdr. William C. Kuebler said the judge, Col. Peter Brownback, was replaced after threatening to suspend proceedings in the case earlier this month.

Brownback told prosecutors they had to provide Khadr's defence lawyers with records of his confinement at the detention camp in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, or he would suspend the proceedings.

Kuebler, Khadr's U.S. military-appointed lawyer, said he learned Brownback had been fired in an email from the chief judge of the U.S. military commissions, Col. Ralph Kohlmann. Kuebler's news release also included an email sent Wednesday by lead prosecutor Maj. Jeff Groharing, which complained of numerous delays in trial proceedings.

Kuebler told CBCNews.ca he believes the prosecution hopes the change will "speed things up."

Brownback will be replaced by Col. Patrick Parrish, said Kuebler, who said he won't have a chance to talk to Khadr until later in June.

Pick up a 15-year-old boy in a foreign country, throw him in prison without charges or trial, torture him, and deny him access to legal counsel for several years. If a judge challenges your right to do so, get rid of the judge.

This is a democratic nation governed by the rule of law?

And this is the country that the Government of Canada wants to suck up to?

new york state will honour same-sex marriages

My home state moves closer to justice!

Gov. David A. Paterson has directed all state agencies to begin to revise their policies and regulations to recognize same-sex marriages performed in other jurisdictions, like Massachusetts, California and Canada.

In a directive issued on May 14, the governor’s legal counsel, David Nocenti, instructed the agencies that gay couples married elsewhere "should be afforded the same recognition as any other legally performed union."

The revisions are most likely to involve as many as 1,300 statutes and regulations in New York governing everything from joint filing of income tax returns to transferring fishing licenses between spouses.

In a videotaped message given to gay community leaders at a dinner on May 17, Mr. Paterson described the move as "a strong step toward marriage equality." And people on both sides of the issue said it moved the state closer to fully legalizing same-sex unions in this state.

Nicely done, Governor Paterson!

clarification: it's not too late to help corey glass

In comments here, my blog-friend Impudent Strumpet asked if this motion came to late to help Corey Glass, the first U.S. war resister to receive a deportation order.

The motion before Parliament calls for the Government to immediately cease all deportation proceedings against all war resisters.

So if the motion passes, and the government honours it, it will include Corey.

But even if the Government won't overtly agree to honour the motion - the will of the majority of Canadians - will they actually have Corey taken away, and risk such negative publicity, at a time when they can scarcely afford any more?

They may just let the deportation order sit for a while, without acting on it, while they think of a way to save face.

Many people don't realize that this issue was a political battle during the Vietnam era, too. Just like today, activists worked for years to try to convince the government to let the draft resisters and deserters remain in Canada. It took a deportation order to galvanize the movement. There was such a public outcry - there was such outrage - that the government finally acted. The resister was not deported, and Pierre Trudeau declared Canada "a refuge from militarism".

* * * *

A note on comments. After four years of blogging, I'm finally forced to use comment moderation. It seems the recent run of trolls is not a run at all, but one person with too much time and too little medication. I'd much prefer you all to be able to discuss and debate when I'm not around, but it's too much work to delete all his/her bile. Between us, Allan and I can usually get comments through pretty quickly. So comment moderation will remain in use, at least until the troll's mother takes away his computer privileges. Thanks for your understanding.

liberal party supports u.s. war resisters

From the website of the Liberal Party of Canada:

The Liberal Opposition is calling on the Conservative government to support a motion that would allow conscientious objectors to apply for permanent resident status in Canada, said Liberal Citizenship and Immigration Critic Maurizio Bevilacqua.

"Five years ago, the Liberal government made a principled decision not to participate in a war that wasn’t sanctioned by the United Nations (U.N.). We should not now punish individuals and their families for making the same decision based on their personal principles," said Mr. Bevilacqua.

The motion, which was passed by the Immigration Committee and is being debated in the House today, calls on the government to allow conscientious objectors, and their immediate family members, who have refused or left military service related to a war not sanctioned by the U.N. and who do not have a criminal record to apply for permanent resident status and remain in Canada. The motion also stipulates that the government should not proceed with any action against any war resister who currently faces deportation.

"The government has a choice: it is not compelled to force these people to go back to a country where they may face prosecution under military law, or may be permanently branded for making a principled decision," said Mr. Bevilacqua.

"Stephen Harper has indicated that, had he been Prime Minister in 2003, Canada would have participated in the Iraq war. I hope that the fact that Mr. Harper got it wrong at the time will not prevent him from showing compassion for those who made the right decision."

Thank you to Mr. Bevilacqua and our other Liberal supporters for doing the right thing.

the road is long, but we are many

One year ago, we didn't have the full support of the opposition members of the Committee on Citizenship and Immigration.

So we worked. We educated, and lobbied, and demonstrated. We made our case, with facts and with feeling.

In December, our resolution passed in Committee.

Then we didn't have enough support in the House of Commons to bring the resolution forward.

So we worked more. We enlisted the support of the Canadian people. Across Canada, people wrote letters and made phone calls. We held events where we could educate the public and broaden our support. We worked with peace groups and church groups, labour and immigration. We blogged and we YouTubed and we Facebooked. We demonstrated, and we tabled, and we petitioned.

Now we have enough support that our resolution should pass in Parliament.

This has been, and continues to be, a lesson in how true democracy works. And I owe about a dozen people a huge "I told you so"!

* * * *

Technically, this resolution will not be binding. But as Jeffry House - who represented many of the war resisters in court, and who is himself a Vietnam-era resister - said in comments, the motion is morally binding.

We will do everything in our power to ensure that the government of Canada is responsive to the will of the people.

Stand with us! Stand for peace.

Let Them Stay.

oops, that was premature

You may have seen an earlier post saying that we had won, that the motion had passed.

We watched the Parliamentary debate and it looked like we carried the day... but then the vote was deffered until Monday or Tuesday of next week. This is a procedural delay, our side making sure that there are enough bodies in their seats to get this thing across.

It's very nerve-wracking! But it looks very positive.

Update: I'm now told that the procedural delay may have been from our side, but it may have been from the Tories. We aren't sure. Either way, everyone will have all their ducks in a row for the vote next week. What a tense weekend we have ahead!

big breaking news!! motion in support of u.s. war resisters being read right now!!

RIGHT NOW NDP Members of Parliament Olivia Chow and Bill Siksay are introducing our motion to the House of Commons.

I haven't been able to say anything about this until it actually happened. But here we go!

This is the motion that passed in the Committee on Citizenship and Immigration in December through a united opposition. It reads:

The Committee recommends that the government immediately implement a program to allow conscientious objectors and their immediate family members (partners and dependents), who have refused or left military service related to a war not sanctioned by the United Nations and do not have a criminal record, to apply for permanent resident status and remain in Canada; and that the government should immediately cease any removal or deportation actions that may have already commenced against such individuals.

Debate is going on right now. I will post more as I know.

This motion is not binding on the Government: it cannot compel them to act. However, with a united Opposition voting for it, and a minority Government weakened and wracked by scandal, can they refuse to act? Will they blatantly thwart the will of the Canadian people?

insite to remain open at least another year

Good news from BC!

North America's only sanctioned safe-injection site for drug addicts won a major court victory Tuesday, thwarting any chance of the federal Conservative government closing it down.

Mr. Justice Ian Pitfield of the B.C. Supreme Court granted users and staff at the popular but controversial facility known as Insite a permanent constitutional exemption from prosecution under federal drug laws.

Allowing addicts to inject their illegal drugs in a safe, medically supervised environment is a matter of sensible health care and they should not be under threat of being busted by police, the judge ruled.

In so doing, Judge Pitfield also declared that sections of Canada's drug laws against possession and trafficking in illegal narcotics were unconstitutional.

However, he gave the government until the end of June next year to redraft them in accordance with the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The ruling is narrow in scope and not expected to lead to widespread loosening of the laws against heroin, cocaine, marijuana and other illegal drugs.

But it was clearly a stunning reprieve for Insite.

Friend of wmtc Jen is a long-time advocate for Insite. I'm hoping she'll come by with a comment or, if she'd like, a guest post.

a note to wmtc commenters

I have to turn on comment moderation when I'm away from my computer, and overnight. Nothing personal. Thanks for your understanding.