Parkdale residents to be deported Stateside

LIAM LAHEY

January 15, 2009

Two more Parkdale residents have been ordered deported to the U.S. to face prosecution for refusing to fight in the Iraq War.

Kimberley Rivera, the first female American war resister in history, and her family have been ordered to leave Canada by Jan. 27. Rivera and her husband Mario and children Christian, 6, Rebecca, 4, and newborn Katie Marie (a Canadian citizen by birth) have been residing on Jameson Avenue for a couple of years. Rivera is a former U.S. soldier who served in Iraq, but subsequently fled to Canada as a conscientious objector in early 2007 after being ordered back to Iraq a second time.

Meanwhile, Dean Walcott, a former marine, also had his application to remain in this country rejected by Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) recently. Walcott, 27, has been residing in Parkdale for a year and a half on Elm Grove Avenue. He's employed at Re-Boot Canada, a computer refurbishment outfit on Geary Avenue that provides computers to underprivileged children and families. He has been ordered to leave Canada on Jan. 30. If deported, Walcott would face a court martial, jail time and a felony conviction.

"There's grounds I have to appeal this decision on. The way the decision read, it was if (the CIC) said 'well we don't really want to read this so if you could just go ahead and leave, that would be alright'. I'm not terribly worried," he said. "I'm here to the bitter end... nobody from Toronto has been snatched up. I'm going to continue to work and provide computers for poor people and I think the government would be hard pressed to tell me it'd be better I spend five years in jail then help poor people pick themselves up by their bootstraps."

Lee Zaslofsky, coordinator War Resisters Support Campaign in Toronto, said despite the prorogation of the Canadian parliament last December, Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government has continued to pursue and expel American war resisters.

A recent request by the War Resisters Support Campaign to meet with Jason Kenney, Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, was ignored, Zaslofsky said, adding Kenney's recent comments pertaining to the American war resisters were unacceptable.

"This is a concerted effort by the Minister to clear out the problem before Parliament can get its teeth into it and force the government to stop doing this," Zaslofsky said. "It's cruel. The Federal Court has intervened three times now... obviously the court is concerned there's something fishy here."

Liberal critic for citizenship and immigration, MP Borys Wrzesnewskyj (Etobicoke Centre), said it's extremely unfortunate Kenney has seemingly taken a hard line position and prejudged the issue through his public statements.

"In my opinion, (Kenney) has overstepped his ministerial boundaries by prejudging... when a Minister publicly states he doesn't view these as refugee cases because these (people) are just straight out deserters, he's overstepped the line," he said.

Walcott was clearly miffed by the public comments Kenney is alleged to have made.

"For that guy to go on record and dismiss ours as 'bogus refugee claims'... that compromises the jobs of everyone below him," Walcott said. "I don't see why he's allowed to run his mouth like that. He hasn't even looked at any of the cases. It was totally inappropriate."

Also noteworthy, Elizabeth McWeeny, president of the Canadian Council for Refugees, wrote in an open letter to Kenney that it was "highly inappropriate" for him to express his opinions on how he believes Immigration and Refugee Board members should make their decisions.

"Given that the IRB is independent, it is highly inappropriate for you to express your opinions on how you believe IRB members should make refugee determinations. To do so gives the strong appearance of political interference," she wrote.

In terms of helping the American war resisters, Wrzesnewskyj pointed to parliamentary committees where most legislative work takes place; Kenney could be called upon to explain his public remarks and to provide grounds on which he based his decisions and remarks. However, Wrzesnewskyj also cited the uncertainty surrounding the House of Commons when parliament resumes on Jan. 29.

"We don't know if the federal budget will pass, whether the government will fall, whether there'll be an alternate government or whether we'll be going into another election. There are a lot of hanging questions," he said. "I'd guess within the first two weeks (of February) we'll have a better idea as to what will be happening."

In light the Federal Court of Canada granting stays of deportation for US soldiers Jeremy Hinzman of Parkdale and Matt Lowell in London, Zasolfsky said it would be short-sighted of the Conservative government to deport others until Hinzman's and Lowell's matters are decided upon by the Court.

"What I'm concerned about, the Federal Court has agreed to hear the case of Jeremy Hinzman on Feb. 10 and Matt Lowell on March 18," he said. "I think it's very unwise, hasty, to be deporting people when the Federal Court may issue a decision that it was wrong to do that."

Lawyers for Rivera and Walcott would petition the Federal Court in the coming days to intervene once again and grant the Parkdale-based resisters a stay of deportation, Zaslofsky added.

Three other US soldiers are slated to be deported in January: Chris Teske on Jan. 20, Cliff Cornell on Jan. 22, and Torontonian Patrick Hart, his wife Jill and son Rian, on Jan. 29.

The War Resisters Support Campaign asks for concerned citizens to contact Minister Kenney and demand he halt the deportations. Kenney's parliamentary office number is

613-992-2235 or e-mail him at minister@cic.gc.ca or kenney.j@parl.gc.c