let them stay week, day five: call or visit your mp day

By all reports, yesterday's national phone-in day was a huge success, fueled, no doubt, by anger at the deportations of war resisters Cliff Cornell and Chris Teske. We've heard that people in Stephen Harper's office told a caller "we're being bombarded with phone calls today" in support of Iraq war resisters. This is the kind of bombardment we can get behind.

If you forgot to call or didn't have the time, it's not too late. Call today! Click here for all the contact info.

Today, we are taking a different approach. Members of Parliament are in their constituency offices on Fridays: let yours know how you feel about this issue. Call, or if you have time, drop by the office.

It doesn't matter what party your MP is from, or how you vote. If you believe that Canada should allow people who refuse to participate in immoral, unjust and illegal wars and occupations to come here and live here legally - if you believe Canada can be and is a refuge from militarism - share that with your MP.

If you don't know how to contact your MP, go here and type in your postal code.

Allan and I have been amazed and impressed at how accessible Members of Parliament are to their constituents. It's one of the big differences between the Canadian and US political systems. So I'm thinking most of you have called your MPs before, but if you haven't, it's a very easy process and not intimidating.

Every phone call, every email, every personal visit is vital. Kim Rivera - a mother of three, a nursing mother, a person of peace, my dear friend - faces the prospect of being separated from her infant because Stephen Harper has refused to heed the will of the majority of Canadians and the majority of Parliament.

If this outrages you half as much as it does me, please tell your MP today.This is a travesty. Your message:
• stop the deportation proceedings against all US Iraq War Resisters, and
• implement the Parliamentary motion from June 2008 to allow war resisters to apply for Permanent Resident status in Canada.

Today I am joining a group meeting with a Conservative MP! This is a first for me. I'm excited and a bit nervous.

Later today I'll write about this week's event in Parkdale. I was waiting for Kim's permission to publish her poem. More later.

Update! Read the first comment on this post, from M@.