“Dear Canada, Let U.S. War Resisters
Stay!”
Sign the appeal online—we'll mail
the letters for you.
www.couragetoresist.org/canada
 1. Sign the letter online
Courage to Resist volunteers will send three letters on your
behalf to key Canadian officials by international first class mail.
"I am writing from the United States to ask you to make a
provision for sanctuary for the scores of U.S. military servicemembers
currently in Canada, most of whom have traveled to your country in order
to resist fighting in the Iraq War. Please let them stay in
Canada..."
The complete letter (below) includes important
background and current information about our resisters in Canada. Also,
visit our "Dear
Canada" campaign resources page for additional information and
ways to get involved.
2. Encourage friends to sign
online
Send your own action alert to friends and family. Distribute
the "Dear
Canada" campaign PDF leaflet at events—it contains much of
the information included in this email. Recommend that your favorite
anti-war community group forward this appeal to their supporters. Display
“Dear
Canada” image buttons and banners on your website.
 3. Help collect signatures
Download and print the "Dear
Canada" PDF petition (11”x14”) and/or the "Dear
Canada" PDF letter. After collecting signatures, just mail the
completed letters and petitions back to us. We'll print and send the
letters to Canada—and we’ll send each signer a thank you
note.
4. Distribute postcards
Order "Dear
Canada" postcards for local organizing and outreach. Each set of
3 postcards is pre-addressed with a brief message to a Canadian official.
Twenty sets of postcards (60 cards total) are available for only
$10.
5. Donate
Consider a donation to
Courage to Resist so that we can continue sending these letters
regardless of signers ability to contribute. Each set of letters costs us
over $2.50 to produce and mail, so we’re counting on friends such as
you to make ends meet. We're just getting started and we’re already
mailing the first 1,500 letters (sample
PDF) to Canada today!
 Also, please consider donating to War Resisters
Support Campaign (Canada) to directly “help U.S. war
resisters in need and to continue to build a national campaign to ensure
that the Canadian government will make a provision for U.S. war resisters
to stay in Canada.” For more information, and to donate: www.resisters.ca
6. Write your own letter
Feel free to use the letter below as a starting point for a more
personalized appeal from you, your church, union, or organization.
Dear Hon.
________________
I am writing from the United States to ask you to make a
provision for sanctuary for the scores of U.S. military servicemembers
currently in Canada, most of whom have traveled to your country in order
to resist fighting in the Iraq War.
Please let them stay in Canada.
When more than 50,000 Americans refused to fight in Vietnam by
immigrating to Canada, Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau declared,
“[They] have my complete sympathy, and indeed our political
approach has been to give them access to Canada. Canada should be a
refuge from militarism.”
Today Canada again faces the moral choice of whether to give
refuge to resisters of an unjust war. Immigrating to Canada is much harder
now, so war resisters are seeking refugee status in accord with United
Nations guidelines, “Soldiers who refuse to fight in wars that are
widely condemned by the international community as contrary to standards
of human conduct should be considered as refugees.”
The Canadian Refugee Board, however, has refused to hear
arguments that the war in Iraq is illegal, and it continues to reject
these claims.
Jeremy Hinzman and Brandon Hughey, the first two U.S.
objectors to apply, are now appealing to the Supreme Court of Canada.
Robin Long nearly became the first war resister to be
deported. We are thankful that Canadian immigration officials have put his
deportation on hold. However, he and other U.S. war resisters still face
deportation—even before a decision by the Supreme Court of
Canada.
Regardless of the decisions of the Refugee Board or the
courts, the Canadian government should not become party to the persecution
of war resisters. If forced back to the U.S., soldiers of conscience face
years of incarceration and stigmatizing discharges. Although unlikely,
even the death penalty remains as a possible penalty for desertion in
wartime under the U.S. military’s Uniform Code of Military
Justice!
Nearly two of three Canadians are in favor of U.S. war
resisters being allowed to stay according to a recent poll, and of course
many wonderful Canadians have opened their homes and their hearts to our
war resisters. Please continue Canada’s rich tradition of being a
refuge from militarism.
I ask that the Canadian government demonstrate its commitment
to international law—despite my own government’s shortcomings.
I seek your assurance that U.S. war resisters will not be forced to leave
Canada.
Sincerely,
____________________ |
Send appeals to:
Prime Minister Stephen Harper
80 Wellington Street, Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0A2, CANADA
Fax: 613-941-6900 |
pm@pm.gc.ca
Minister of Citizenship & Immigration Diane
Finley
Citizenship & Immigration Canada
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 1L1, CANADA
minister@cic.gc.ca
Stéphane Dion, Liberal Party
81 Metcalfe Street, Suite 400, Ottawa, Ontario K1P 6M8, CANADA
Phone: 613-996-5789 |
dion.s@parl.gc.ca
“Dear Canada, Let U.S. War Resisters
Stay!”
Add your name today:
www.couragetoresist.org/canada |
