Canadian war resisters lost a pivotal battle in parliament on September 29 when Bill C-440 was defeated on its second reading by a vote of 143 to 136.

This vote will impact the roughly 200 war resisters living here; where they are like any other Canadians, drinking Tim Horton's coffee, raising children, paying taxes and actively participating in their community. I have met and worked with many resisters and I am the one enriched by the exchange. They are good people and this is a tough blow to take.

When "Kevin" joined the U.S. army nine years ago, he never imagined he'd be living as a fugitive in Canada today. In 2006, the U.S. Iraq war resister drove halfway across the United States, boarded a plane for Calgary and convinced a border agent to let him in. He's been hiding ever since.

"I don't go out to places and hang out and just strike up conversations with strangers," he says, sitting on his living-room couch. "There's too much on the line."

If caught, Kevin -- not his real name -- could be deported to the U.S. and face jail time for deserting a war he considers to be immoral.

"I'm not the only one who thinks the war is illegal," he says.

U.S. war resister Jeremy Hinzman has won the right to appeal his deportation order, setting the stage for a new immigration review process for all those Iraq- and Afghanistan-assigned American soldiers who came to Canada as conscientious objectors.

The Federal Court of Appeals ruled in a unanimous three-judge decision on July 6 that the immigration officer in charge of Hinzman's refugee case in 2008 was in error to deny his application for permanent residence status because she didn't take into account his pacifist religious beliefs. 

WAR RESISTERS SUPPORT CAMPAIGN

For Immediate Release

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Jeremy Hinzman, Nga Nguyen and their son Liam.

TORONTO-This afternoon the Federal Court of Appeal issued its unanimous judgment that an immigration officer's decision rejecting Jeremy Hinzman's application for permanent residence in Canada was "significantly flawed" and "unreasonable."

Different powers are fighting over the fate of US war resisters in Canada. On one side, it is the Harper government's hostility towards war resisters that has lead to the government's refusal to grant them refugee status, triggering their deportation back to the United States to stand trial for desertion. On the other, 63 per cent of Canadians and the three Opposition parties in unison want war resisters to stay.