March 26, 2009
URGENT ACTION: ACT NOW TO ALLOW IRAQ WAR RESISTERS TO STAY IN CANADA
By
Katherine Dodds
ACT NOW: CANADIAN PARLIAMENT TO VOTE AGAIN ON U.S. IRAQ WAR RESISTERS ON MONDAY, MARCH 30th!
Kim Rivera’s last-minute victory in the Federal Court on March 25th, stopping her deportation by the Harper government and Minister Jason Kenney, is a tremendous victory for all U.S. Iraq War resisters in Canada. But Kim and other resisters still face imminent deportation. A political solution is needed to ultimately solve this crisis and secure refuge in Canada for war resisters.
Please contact the Leader of the Official Opposition and your local Member of Parliament and ask them to support U.S. Iraq War resisters during next week’s vote. If the 163 members of the opposition parties can unite again, together we can defeat the 143 Conservatives who promise to vote against Iraq War resisters and deport them to jail in the U.S.
BACKGROUND – THE WILL OF CANADIANS AND PARLIAMENT:
On June 3, 2008, Canada’s Parliament passed an historic motion calling on the government to create a program allowing U.S. Iraq War resisters to apply for permanent residence, and to immediately stop deporting them. This motion was re-affirmed by the House Immigration Committee on February 12, 2009.
Yet Harper’s new Immigration Minister Jason Kenney has been ignoring these democratic decisions and deporting war resisters to punishment; Kenney has already deported Chris Teske and Cliff Cornell, and recently tried to deport the Rivera family. Public opinion polls have found that over 64% of Canadians support letting war resisters stay in Canada.
ACT NOW – THE VOTE IS THIS MONDAY:
1.) Please call Michael Ignatieff, Leader of the Official Opposition (Liberals):
Ottawa phone: (613) 995-9364
Etobicoke (Constituency) phone: (416) 251-5510
Points to raise:
- thank the Liberal Party for supporting Iraq war resisters in the debate in Parliament, March 26th;
- thank Mr. Ignatieff and the Liberal Party for voting in support of the 2008 motion in support of Iraq War resisters, and for Canada’s stance in not joining the war in Iraq;
- ask the Liberals to be sure to attend and to vote again with a united opposition to defeat the Conservatives on U.S. Iraq War resisters on Monday, March 30th
2.) Contact your local Member of Parliament (use this on-line search link)
If your M.P. is a member of the Conservative Party, ask them to respect the majority of Canadians and the will of Parliament and support the motion for war resisters. If they are members of the opposition ask them to reaffirm their support by ensuring that all M.P.s attend and vote in support of war resisters.
3.) SEND E-MAILS to the leaders of the opposition, and include the immigration critics, Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Minister Jason Kenney and Opposition Party Whips asking them to pass the motion on U.S. Iraq War resisters:
Ignatieff.M@parl.gc.ca, Layton.J@parl.gc.ca, Duceppe.G@parl.gc.ca, BevilM@parl.gc.ca, St-Cyr.T@parl.gc.ca, Chowo@parl.gc.ca, pm@pm.gc.ca, Harper.S@parl.gc.ca, minister@cic.gc.ca, kennej@parl.gc.ca, kennej7@parl.gc.ca, Cuzner.R@parl.gc.ca, guimom1@parl.gc.ca, Godin.Y@parl.gc.ca
If the motion passes again in the current Parliament it will send another strong message to Immigration Minister Kenney and Prime Minister Harper to respect the will of Canadians and stop deporting U.S. Iraq War resisters.
Please act now for the war resisters and their families, as every call and e-mail will make a measurable difference.
Thank you!
War Resisters Support Campaign (Canada)
Web: http://www.resisters.ca/
YouTube videos: http://www.youtube.com/WarResistersCanada
Phone: 416-598-1222
E-mail: resisters@sympatico.ca
Tag(s):
Blogging,
Hello Cool World
Recent Blogs by Katherine Dodds:
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Katherine Dodds AKA "Kat" is the founder of Good Company Communications and HelloCoolWorld.com. Trained in renegade advertising & branding through her work with Adbusters in the '90s, Kat's early induction into the possibilities of the web-world was inspired by the term hypertext, which she immediately found comforting. She is dedicated to cause-related communication and to the development and use of tools that promote democratic processes.
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