Monday, on Democracy Now! war resisters in Canada finally got a tiny, smidge of attention from Amy Goodman in "Headlines:"
Protests Call on Canada to Allow U.S. War Resisters to Stay
A group of Iraq war veterans and peace activists protested outside the Canadian Embassy in Washington Saturday calling on the Canadian government to allow hundreds of U.S. war resisters to remain in Canada. Protests were also held in over a dozen U.S. and Canadian cities as part of a day of action dubbed Let Them Stay Day. The protests were organized to urge the Canadian government to make it possible for U.S. war resisters to obtain permanent Canadian resident status. In November, the Supreme Court of Canada refused to hear appeals from Jeremy Hinzman and Brandon Hughey, who sought refugee status on the grounds of their opposition to the war in Iraq. Max Diorio of the group Courage To Resist said: "We believe that these war resisters should be allowed a safe haven from persecution on the basis of resisting an illegal and immoral war and occupation."
That was the 16th item. And that was it for the coverage. Is it wrong to complain about that? Or is it wrong to note that when all you do on it is above, you really need to get your facts right. The Canadian Embassy in Washington action took place on Friday, not Saturday. US actions took place on Friday and Saturday actions kicked off in Canada.
You can make your voice heard by the Canadian parliament which has the ability to pass legislation to grant war resisters the right to remain in Canada. Three e-mails addresses to focus on are: Prime Minister Stephen Harper (pm@pm.gc.ca -- that's pm at gc.ca) who is with the Conservative party and these two Liberals, Stephane Dion (Dion.S@parl.gc.ca -- that's Dion.S at parl.gc.ca) who is the leader of the Liberal Party and Maurizio Bevilacqua (Bevilacqua.M@parl.gc.ca -- that's Bevilacqua.M at parl.gc.ca) who is the Liberal Party's Critic for Citizenship and Immigration. A few more can be found here at War Resisters Support Campaign. For those in the US, Courage to Resist has an online form that's very easy to use.