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Winnipeg chapter supports fundraiser for war resister


Photo by Graham Lanktree/ Metro News.
Photo by Graham Lanktree/ Metro News.

The Winnipeg chapter of the Council of Canadians is supporting a fundraiser for war resister Joshua Key this evening.

The Winnipeg Free Press reports, “A former U.S. soldier who walked out on the war in Iraq and sought sanctuary in Canada is still living in limbo and looking for help in Winnipeg Monday night. A fundraiser for Joshua Key is being held Monday at 7 p.m. at St. Matthews Church in the West End.”

“Key is one of an estimated 200 U.S. war resisters in Canada, and an outspoken opponent of the U.S. war agenda in Iraq. In the 2007 book, The Deserter’s Tale: The Story of an Ordinary Soldier Who Walked Away from the War in Iraq, which he co-wrote with Book of Negroes author Lawrence Hill, Key recounts his difficult upbringing in Guthrie, Okla. He talks about the economic hardship that compelled him to enlist in the military, the brutalizing of Iraqi civilians he saw his fellow soldiers committing almost daily, and his escape from the war after eight months of service. Key arrived in Toronto on March 8, 2005, and days later made a claim for asylum as a conscientious objector seeking refugee status. He can’t legally work in Canada or access health care and other benefits. He married a Canadian and they have three children.”

Tonight’s event is also be supported by Peace Alliance Winnipeg, Project Peacemakers, Winnipeg People’s Social Forum, Canadian Dimension and Food, Not Bombs.

The Council of Canadians has long called on the Harper government to allow U.S. war resisters to stay in Canada. In November 2005, we presented our Activist of the Year award to war resister Jeremy Hinzman who accepted it on behalf of all war resisters in Canada. We also supported Bill C-440, legislation that would have allowed war resisters to stay in Canada. That bill was defeated by a 7 vote margin in the House of Commons. Rather than welcoming war resisters, the Harper government has treated them as criminals.