War Resistors Talk led by Dale
Please watch this video as it informs the projected consequences and updated stance. Together, the community is planning to organize a rally in April in front of the Brazilian Embassy to display our resistance against the construction of the dam.
During the period of 1965-1973, more than 50,000 Americans made their way to Canada, refusing to participate in an immoral war. At the time, Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau said: "Those who make a conscientious judgment that they must not participate in this war... have my complete sympathy, and indeed our political approach has been to give them access to Canada. Canada should be a refuge from militarism."
Thirty years later, Canada is faced with the same moral choice. Since 2004, a growing number of American soldiers and their families have made the decision to seek sanctuary in Canada in objection to the war in Iraq.
Following the Second World War, the Nuremberg Tribunal set out important principles of international law. Those principles established that soldiers have a moral duty, not a choice, to refuse to carry out illegal orders.
Canada should not punish US war objectors for exercising their conscience and refusing to fight. If they are returned to the United States, they face court martial before a military tribunal and years in prison. Even the death penalty remains on the books in the U.S. as a possible punishment for desertion during wartime. Canada must not facilitate the persecution of American war objectors by returning them to the United States.
The majority of Canadians did not support this war. The Canadian government did not support this war.
The War Resisters Support Campaign calls on the Canadian government to demonstrate its commitment to international law and the treaties to which it is a signatory, by making provision for US war objectors to have sanctuary in this country.