Canadian officials: No AWOL deportations

[unhappycamper]

Canadian officials: No AWOL deportations
By Michael Oliveira - The Canadian Press
Posted : Wednesday Jan 21, 2009 15:00:51 EST

TORONTO — Liberal and New Democrat parliamentarians said Wednesday that U.S. war resisters would not be deported under a coalition government.

Five Americans could face deportation by the end of the month unless there’s a last-minute court reprieve or an unexpected policy change by the federal government.

Liberal Mario Silva and New Democrat Olivia Chow said their parties would protect war resisters if Stephen Harper’s government were to fall after next week’s budget.

Silva invoked the words of former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, who during the Vietnam War said “Canada should be a refuge from militarism.”

“To all those brave men and women who have in fact objected to (the Iraq) war we say, bravo. We say welcome, you should be here in Canada,” Silva said at a news conference in Toronto, which was attended by several war resisters and their young families.


Rest of article at: http://armytimes.com/news/2009/01/cp_canada_awol_deport_012109w/%2e

[Peace Patriot]

1. YES! I can't tell you how glad I am to hear this! Thanks for posting!

Any idea what the chances are for a coalition victory?

These 'deserters' from an unjust, illegal, hideous corporate oil war are HEROES! I respect the physical heroism of warriors, even if they are deluded (mistaken, propagandized, brainwashed) about the justness of their cause. I respect their physical courage--no small thing--and their discipline, patriotism and desire to serve. But there is a greater courage--moral courage. These young people who have fled to Canada are not fleeing battle; they signed up for battle; and they are not deserting their country; they are "coming home" to their country, their real country, our country--the country that learned the lesson of Vietnam, the country that does not pre-emptively strike another people, and slaughter a million innocents to get their oil. By going to Canada, these soldiers remind us of who we really are, in our ideal form as a democracy; by going away, they reaffirm their allegiance to those ideals. They are the greatest of patriots, those willing to endure scorn, and death threats, and rejection, and trials and jail, and the ruination of their careers and lives, to stand up for what is right.

We've had other examples of this special courage, during the last eight years. Moral courage--within the military and the government, and outside of them. I've been especially worried about those who went to Canada--some of them are so young--and what they might face by being forced to return. The rightwing Canadian government has been heartless in their attitude, and so wrong! I hope and pray that that is going to change, and that these youngsters can have some rest, at last. And I hope and pray that, some day, we will be able to officially acknowledge their bravery. Why do we honor those who kill, and not those who refuse to do so, in an unjust and wrongful war? We would be a better country--and maybe wouldn't get into unjust wars, time and again--if we honored both kinds of courage.

[Crowman1979]

2. All due to the valiant efforts of MPs who booted Harper out!

The Bush puppet has no power now! :D

[Mnemosyne]

3. Bless you, Canada! n/t

[Joe Chi Minh]

4. Fabulous!