This article and the accompanying photographs (by Jamie Lehane) were posted to nycindymedia.org, July 11, 2008
Dear Canada: Let War Resisters Stay
60 people gathered outside the Canadian consulate on Avenue of the Americas July 9 to call for the Conservative Party-led government of Canada to honor the House of Commons measure that calls for asylum and residency for United States war resisters living there.
At the end of the protest, petitions were delivered to the Canadian consulate expressing support and solidarity with war resisters in Canada, as well as calling on the Canadian government to follow the will of their citizens by halting deportation proceedings against members of the U.S. military who have taken a stand against the Iraq War.
As the Indypendent reported in a June 26, 2008 article titled “G.I. Resisters Face Legal Limbo in Canada,” the non-binding measure in support of war resisters was passed on June 3, 2008. It followed a December 6, 2007 recommendation from the Canadian Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration to implement a program to allow war resisters in Canada to legally stay there.
The protest, with members of the War Resisters League, Code Pink, the Granny Peace Brigade, United for Peace and Justice, and more, followed a call from Courage to Resist to organize vigils outside Canadian consulates across the United States. 14 other cities in the U.S. heeded their call, from Dallas to Los Angeles to Philadelphia and more. The War Resisters League spearheaded the New York City demonstration.
The Granny Peace Brigade sings
There was little police presence, with only one NYPD officer visible on a bicycle.
Signs held up by the demonstrators best summed up the vigil’s message: “Dear Canada, Let War Resisters Stay.”
Corey Glass, a former sergeant in the National Guard of California, was scheduled to be deported July 10. That day, he was granted a stay of removal from the Federal Court of Canada, allowing him to reside in Canada for at least another two months.
Matthis Chiroux, a member of Iraq Veterans Against the War and a Brooklyn College student who refused to deploy to Iraq two and a half weeks ago, had a message of solidarity for Corey Glass.
“Corey Glass is a hero of the human cause,” Chrioux said. “The Canadian government should embrace him as such…Corey, though I have never met you, know you are my hero and a true hero for this country.” Chiroux is awaiting arrest, imprisonment and trial for his courageous stand against the Iraq War.
The Federal Court of Canada’s decision to allow Glass to stay in Canada for now followed another positive decision for U.S. war resisters. The Federal Court has ordered the Immigration and Refugee Board to take up Key’s case once again, saying that the IRB had rejected his application for refugee status on a narrow basis. According to the War Resisters Support Campaign, an advocacy group for resisters in Canada that provides them with legal and moral support, “the court found that Key was required to systematically violate the Geneva Conventions as part of his military service in Iraq.”
“[Resisters] need to be protected and respected for their refusal to commit war crimes and to continue killing in an illegal and immoral war,” said Jenny Hines, a member of Code Pink and the Granny Peace Brigade. The Granny Peace Brigade added some melodic tunes to the demonstration, signing “1,2,3, what are we fighting for? First it was WMDs, then democracy.”
Matthis Chiroux, IVAW member
Although the two court decisions in favor of U.S. war resisters has given the growing movement hope, the Canadian government is currently trying to deport resister Robin Long. Long is currently jailed in the town of Nelson, British Columbia, and Canada is scheduled to deport him next Monday. Nelson, B.C. is also the current residence of resister Ryan Johnson. Bob Ages of the Vancouver chapter of the War Resisters Support Campaign told the Canadian-based Globe And Mail that what Prime Minister Harper is trying to do is “kidnap war resisters and get them into the hands of George Bush.”
“It doesn’t sound like [Harper] wants to [follow the House of Commons measure], but who knows? We need to exert pressure right now, and show that the Canadian population doesn’t want [resisters to be deported], the U.S. population doesn’t want this…It’s time to end the U.S. occupation of Iraq, and support these courageous soldiers who are putting international law in their conscience,” said Matt Smucker, an organizer with the War Resisters League.