War Resisters

UPDATE: January 7, 2009. From: CBC.ca

U.S. war deserter, mother of 3 must leave Canada

A mother of three young children reported to be the first U.S. female war deserter seeking asylum in Canada says she's been ordered to leave the country.

Kimberly Rivera said her request to stay on humanitarian and compassionate grounds was rejected at a hearing in Mississauga, Ont., and her family has been told to leave Canada by Jan. 27.

The former soldier moved to Toronto from Texas in early 2007 with her husband and two children after refusing redeployment to Iraq. In late November, she gave birth to a third child in Canada.

She had served in Iraq in 2006 as a gate guard at a forward operating base, according to the War Resisters Support Campaign. The advocacy group said Rivera is the first U.S. female war deserter to come to Canada.

Rivera said she was shocked by the decision and worries about her three children, who have come to see Canada as home.

"It kind of hurts and it feels like a piece of you is being ripped right out of you," she told CBC News.

Supporters had hoped immigration officials would allow her to stay in part because she has a six-week-old daughter, Katie Marie, born in Canada. Rivera's other children are Christian, 6, and Rebecca, 4.

"I was more hopeful about Kim's situation because she's a nursing mother and I thought they might take that into consideration," said Lee Zaslofsky, co-ordinator of the War Resisters Support Campaign.

Zaslofsky said the federal government seems resolved not to allow any war deserters to remain in Canada — a position he believes is not supported by most Canadians.

The group says four other American military personnel and their families face deportation in January.

In July, Robin Long became the first American deserter removed by Canadian authorities. Long was sentenced to 15 months in prison after pleading guilty to a reduced charge of desertion.

Last month, Cliff Cornell, a former U.S. soldier from Arkansas living in Nanaimo, B.C., was ordered to leave Canada by Dec. 24.

Deportation orders were also given to U.S. war deserters:

* Corey Glass.
* Jeremy Hinzman.
* Patrick Hart.
* Matt Lowell.
* Dean Walcott.
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War Resisters Support Campaign Info

During the period of 1965-1973, more than 50,000 Americans made their way to Canada, refusing to participate in an immoral war. At the time, Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau said: "Those who make a conscientious judgment that they must not participate in this war... have my complete sympathy, and indeed our political approach has been to give them access to Canada. Canada should be a refuge from militarism."

Thirty years later, Canada is faced with the same moral choice – to give refuge to those who refuse to be complicit in the US-led war on Iraq, which many legal opinions have deemed illegal under international law.

In January of 2004, Jeremy Hinzman, a soldier in 82nd Airborne Division, made his way to Canada seeking refugee status with his wife, Nga, and son, Liam. Brandon Hughey arrived in March 2004, and David Sanders surfaced in Toronto in May 2004. Since then, a growing number of American soldiers and their families have made the decision to seek sanctuary in Canada.

In December 2004, the Canadian government intervened in Jeremy Hinzman’s hearing before Canada’s Immigration and Refugee Board, asserting that the legality of the war had no relevance to his claim. The refugee hearing officer accepted the government’s argument. This decision fails to acknowledge a critical moment in 20th Century world history.

Following the Second World War, the Nuremberg Tribunal set out important principles of international law. Those principles established that soldiers have a moral duty, not a choice, to refuse to carry out illegal orders.

Jeremy Hinzman is appealing the Refugee Board decision to a Federal Court, where he is hopeful that international law will be given a proper hearing. But regardless of the decision of the refugee board or the courts, Canada should not punish US war objectors for exercising their conscience and refusing to fight. If they are returned to the United States, they face court martial before a military tribunal and years in prison. Even the death penalty remains on the books in the U.S. as a possible punishment for desertion during wartime. Canada must not facilitate the persecution of American war objectors by returning them to the United States.

The majority of Canadians did not support this war. The Canadian government did not support this war.

We, the undersigned, call on the Canadian government to demonstrate its commitment to international law and the treaties to which it is a signatory, by making provision for US war objectors to have sanctuary in this country.

For more information visit http://www.resisters.ca