War Resisters Support Campaign

May 6th 2012

May 15th is International Day for Conscientious Objection. The War Resisters Support Campaign is calling on supporters to send a message to Minister of Citizenship and Immigration Jason Kenney to demand that he rescind Operational Bulletin 202 and respect the rights of conscientious objectors to the Iraq war.

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Operational Bulletin 202 was issued by Minister Kenney in July 2010 and singles out US war resisters who are seeking refuge in Canada. This controversial directive specifically references war resisters from the US armed forces and implies that their cases should be treated differently than deserters from other countries.

This interference in what is supposed to be an independent process by immigration officers has already resulted in war resisters being denied applications for humanitarian and compassionate consideration. This even though immigration officers had already approved their applications in principle.

Peter Showler, former chair of the Immigration and Refugee Board, wrote that “Operational Bulletin 202 misstates the law and seeks to intrude on the independence of both IRB members and Immigration Officers.”

The decision by Citizenship and Immigration Canada to grant Conrad Black a Temporary Resident Permit (TRP) in defiance of their own regulations has exposed a double-standard in the Conservative government’s treatment of US Iraq War resisters. In Black’s application, Kenney said that he instructed his officials in February “to deal with any such application on their own, without any input from myself or my office to ensure that it was handled in a completely independent fashion.”

The War Resisters Support Campaign is asking for the same non-interference in the cases of US war resisters as Mr. Kenney granted Conrad Black.

Yet Minister Kenney has put his thumbs on the scales in determining the fate of US conscientious objectors who refused to participate in the illegal invasion and occupation of Iraq.

This is a case of one set of rules for the rich and powerful and another for ordinary people.

In a letter to Minister Kenney, Amnesty International Canada’s Secretary General Alex Neve stated that Amnesty International “considers it to be a violation of international refugee law to suggest that deserters are automatically inadmissible to Canada because desertion is an offence in their own country… We are concerned that the Bulletin strongly suggests a fettering of an immigration officer’s discretion prior to referral to the IRB.”

On May 15th, call or write to Minister Kenney telling him to rescind this discriminatory directive and allow US Iraq war resisters to stay in Canada.

Use the contact information below, or click here to send an email now.

Phone: 613-954-1064
Fax: 613-957.2688
Email: jason.kenney@parl.gc.ca, minister@cic.gc.ca
cc to: stephen.harper@parl.gc.ca, thomas.mulcair@parl.gc.ca, bob.rae@parl.gc.ca, jinny.sims@parl.gc.ca, kevin.lamoureux@parl.gc.ca, elizabeth.may@parl.gc.ca

May 4th 2012

Supporters call on Jason Kenney to rescind discriminatory Operational Bulletin 202

May 4, 2012
TORONTO—The decision by Citizenship and Immigration Canada to grant Conrad Black a Temporary Resident Permit (TRP) has exposed the double-standard in the Conservative government’s treatment of US Iraq War resisters who have sought asylum in Canada.

“Immigration Minister Jason Kenney claims that there was no political intervention in the decision to give Conrad Black a Temporary Resident Permit,” said Michelle Robidoux, spokesperson for the War Resisters Support Campaign. “But he has persistently intervened in the cases of US soldiers and directed immigration officers to red-flag them as potential criminals.”
Read full media release

Jan 6th 2012

As the campaign to win asylum for U.S. Iraq War resisters enters its ninth year, there is much that has been accomplished but much that we must still fight for. The majority of Canadians want an end to deportations of Iraq War resisters, yet the Canadian government has succeeded in deporting two, ­Robin Long and Cliff Cornell. Twice in the past three years, a majority of Parliament voted to oppose deportations and to support a provision that would allow war resisters to stay in Canada. Yet Minister of Immigration Jason Kenney has instituted a discriminatory policy ­ Operational Bulletin 202 ­ that criminalizes Iraq war resisters.

With Parliament set to return on January 31st, the War Resisters Support Campaign is calling on supporters to email the Minister of Immigration, as well as individual MPs, to demand that Operational Bulletin 202 be rescinded.

Below is a message from Don Davies, Immigration critic for the official opposition, in support of Iraq War resisters: