Iraq War resisters and their supporters in Toronto will also be available for interviews
throughout the weekend.
For a
full list of
Let Them Stay Week events, please see the Resisters.ca website.
"The
majority of Canadians have spoken out in support of Iraq
War resisters being allowed to stay in Canada," said Michelle
Robidoux, spokesperson for the War Resisters Support Campaign. "These
young men and women made the difficult decision to cease participation in the
illegal and immoral war in Iraq.
They have shown tremendous courage, leaving behind their homes, their family
and friends."
Yet Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Immigration Minister Jason Kenney — both of whom
wanted Canada
to participate in the Iraq War — are deporting Iraq War resisters.
War resisters Robin Long and Cliff Cornell were sentenced to significant prison
terms because the Harper government refused to respect two House of Commons
motions (passed
June 3, 2008 and
March 30, 2009) that directed the government to immediately
stop deporting U.S. Iraq War resisters and to facilitate the resisters'
requests for permanent resident status from within Canada.
On July 6, 2010, the
Federal Court of Appeal ruled in favour of Jeremy Hinzman.
The Court unanimously found that immigration officers must consider war
resisters' sincerely-held beliefs and motivations for coming to Canada. The
Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB) and immigration officers have consistently
ignored resisters moral, political and religious beliefs, issuing cookie-cutter
decisions that conform to the
Immigration Minister's prejudicial comments rather than
fairly considering each case based on its merits and the individuals'
circumstances.
Jeremy Hinzman's case will be sent back for a new humanitarian and
compassionate (H&C) grounds decision.
Hinzman
was the first U.S. Iraq War resister to come to Canada. Along with his wife Nga
Nguyen and their son Liam, he arrived in Canada on January 3, 2004. Jeremy
and Nga's daughter Meghan was born in Toronto
on July 21, 2008.
Later in July, Citizenship and Immigration Canada issued
Operational Bulletin 202, flagging US Iraq war resisters as potentially “criminally
inadmissible” to Canada.
Peter Showler, former chair of Canada’s
IRB, has written to Minister Kenney urging that the prejudicial directive be
rescinded: “The bulletin implies that military deserters from the US should be
treated differently than deserters from other countries. There is no basis in
law for that proposition.”
Amnesty International Canada has also written to Minister
Kenney, calling for the withdrawal of Operational Bulletin 202 because it
“misstates the law and seeks to intrude on the independence of both IRB members
and Immigration Officers.”
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