Tell Stephen Harper to Let Jeremy Hinzman Stay

This press release was just issued by the War Resisters Support Campaign

---

War Resister Family Ordered to Leave Canada

Hinzmans Were First to Seek Sanctuary
TORONTO, Aug. 13 /CNW/ - U.S. Iraq war resister Jeremy Hinzman was told today that his family's application to stay in Canada has been rejected. Hinzman was told that he does not qualify under Canada's Pre-Removal Risk Assessment (PRRA) program following a review by a Citizenship and Immigration department officer.
Jeremy, his wife Nga Nguyen and their son Liam were the first Iraq War resisters to come to Canada to seek sanctuary. On July 21, their second child was born in Toronto. If deported, they would be the first family sent to the U.S. to face punishment.
On July 15, the Canadian government deported U.S. war resister Robin Long who is currently awaiting court martial at Fort Carson, Colorado.
Hinzman served a tour in Afghanistan in a non-combat role after applying for conscientious objector status. When his unit, the 82nd Airborne Division, was to be deployed to Iraq Hinzman and his family decided to come to Canada.
"I applied for Conscientious Objector Status in the U.S. Army because I realized that I cannot kill a fellow human being. But my application was denied. I knew that in Iraq I would be ordered to take part in combat operations, or other actions that are against my principles," said Hinzman. "Nga and I knew Canada had welcomed many Americans like us during the Vietnam War, and we knew Canada had refused to join the invasion of Iraq."
"Sending Jeremy and his family back to the U.S., where he would face harsh punishment, would be cruel," said Lee Zaslofsky, coordinator of the War Resisters Support Campaign. "It would fly in the face of the motion adopted by the House of Commons on June 3, which called on the Harper government to stop all deportation proceedings against these conscientious objectors."
Recent Federal Court of Canada decisions in the cases of U.S. war resisters Joshua Key and Corey Glass have indicated that the refugee process which failed to grant protection to the Hinzman family may have been seriously flawed.
The War Resisters Support Campaign is calling on the federal government and the Hon. Diane Finley, Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, to intervene to prevent the Hinzman family from being sent to the U.S. to be punished.