Prominent Canadians Release Statement Supporting Iraq War Resister Kimberly Rivera
Call on Jason Kenney to Make Humanitarian Application Decision
TORONTO, ONTARIO — With less than two days left before Kimberly
Rivera and her family, including two
Canadian children, must leave Canada or be deported, supporters of
the US Iraq War resister are calling on Immigration Minister Jason
Kenney to stop delaying and make a decision on the Rivera family’s
three-year-old application to stay in Canada on humanitarian and
compassionate grounds (H&C).
As of Tuesday morning, nearly 19,000 people had signed a petition
urging Minister Kenney to grant the Rivera family’s H&C application
(http://change.org/letkimstay).
During a news conference in Toronto on Tuesday afternoon, a group of
prominent Canadians released a statement calling on Minister Kenney
to “do the right thing and allow Kimberly Rivera and her family to
stay in Canada”:
We the undersigned support conscientious objector Kimberly Rivera and
her family who are threatened with imminent deportation from Canada on
September 20. Kim deployed to Iraq in 2006 and sought asylum in Canada
in 2007. She faces a court martial and up to 5 years in military prison
for refusing to participate any longer in the Iraq war-a war which had
no legal sanction. Kim would be separated from her four young children,
two of whom were born in Canada. A felony conviction would mean a
lifetime of difficulty finding employment. We call on the Minister of
Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism Jason Kenney to do the
right thing and allow Kimberly Rivera and her family to stay in Canada.
Andy Barrie, broadcaster and Vietnam War resister
Dan Bar-El, award-winning children’s author
Maude Barlow, author and activist
Maev Beaty, actor
Shirley Douglas, O.C., actor
Dennis Foon, award-winning writer
Richard Greenblatt, playwright/actor
Ron Hawkins, musician
Naomi Klein, author
Ron Kovic, author, Born on the Fourth of July
Avi Lewis, filmmaker
Peter Showler, Director, the Refugee Forum, University of Ottawa;
former chair of the Immigration and Refugee Board
Jack Todd, journalist and Vietnam War resister
Alexandre Trudeau, filmmaker
“Canadians’ support for conscientious objectors to the Iraq War, and
for the Rivera family specifically, has been overwhelming,” said
Michelle Robidoux, spokesperson for the War Resisters Support
Campaign. “If it was up to the Canadian people, there is no doubt
that the Rivera family would be allowed to stay in this country. We
are appealing today to Jason Kenney to stop a great injustice from
being done, by approving Kimberly Rivera’s application to stay in
Canada on humanitarian and compassionate grounds.”
“Like Kim Rivera, I am a war resister who developed an issue of
conscience after witnessing events in Iraq and sought protection in
Canada,” said Chuck Wiley, a 17-year veteran of the US military.
“Kim’s actions were based in conscience, and her own understanding of
the Nuremberg Principles, the Geneva Conventions, and the balance of
international law. She took these principles seriously, and hoped and
expected that Canada still did the same as it has for generations.”
“I arrived in Canada as a Vietnam War resister, and I have been
welcomed and embraced by Canadians,” said Bill King, Artistic
Director of the Beaches International Jazz Festival in Toronto. “Kim
Rivera made the same difficult decision I did. Minister Kenney and
Prime Minister Harper, please show us that strong leaders are
compassionate and allow her to stay.”
On Friday, September 14, the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA)
issued a decision saying the removal of the Rivera family would not
be deferred because the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration would
not be making a decision in the Riveras’ application for humanitarian
and compassionate consideration any time soon.
Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) guidelines say that
decisions on H&C grounds applications should take an average of 36
months. Given the special attention that CIC has put on the cases of
US war resister, as indicated by Operational Bulletin 202
(http://www.resisters.ca/2010.09.29-Embassy_WithdrawUSWarResisterBulletin.pdf),
the fact that no decision has been made 3 years after Kimberly
Rivera’s H&C application was submitted suggests that the Minister is
dragging this case out.
In 2010, the Federal Court of Appeal found that evidence of
conscientious objection is an important matter which must be
considered in a humanitarian and compassionate grounds application.
Instead of deciding H&C grounds applications per the court’s
decision, Minister Kenney has interfered in the process by issuing a
prejudicial operational directive that “misstates the law and seeks
to intrude on the independence of” decision-makers by requiring
immigration officers to “seek guidance” from headquarters regarding
the files of Iraq War resisters, and he is now trying to deport the
Rivera family without a H&C grounds application decision.
Yesterday, the Rivera family’s lawyer was in Federal Court arguing
for a stay of deportation and a judicial review of Kim Rivera’s
August 30, 2012 Pre-Removal Risk Assessment (PRRA) decision.
In August of 2009 the Federal Court quashed Kim Rivera’s December
2008 PRRA, finding that the decision failed to properly assess the
risk of differential punishment faced by absentee soldiers, like Kim,
who are outspoken critics of the Iraq War. Despite the three years
that it took Citizenship and Immigration Canada officials to
reconsider the December 2008 decision, as ordered by the Federal
Court in August 2009, the PRRA officer has made a similar error to
that which led the court to quash the first decision: failing to
properly assess the risk of differential punishment based on public
conscientious objection to the Iraq War.
Also on Monday, The Globe and Mail published an opinion-editorial by
Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu in which the Nobel Peace Laureate
called on the Government of Canada to stop its efforts to deport
conscientious objectors to the invasion and occupation of Iraq
(http://www.theglobeandmail.com/commentary/dont-deport-war-resister-kimberly-rivera/article4544856/).
Today, Rodney Watson – a decorated US soldier who served in Iraq, was
stop-lossed and came to Canada in 2006 – is marking his third
anniversary of accepting sanctuary in Vancouver’s First United Church
(http://www.thestar.com/opinion/article/742512–why-a-resister-chose-canada-over-the-war-in-iraq).
Amnesty International Canada promoted an “urgent action,” on Tuesday,
asking Canadians to call Prime Minister Stephen Harper and
Immigration Minister Jason Kenney to prevent Kim Rivera from becoming
a prisoner of conscience
(http://www.amnesty.ca/iwriteforjustice/take_action.php?actionid=919).
Contacts:
War Resisters Support Campaign
Michelle Robidoux
Spokesperon
416-856-5008
War Resisters Support Campaign
Ken Maricniec
Communications Volunteer
416-803-6066
communications@resisters.ca
http://resisters.ca
http://twitter.com/warresisters
http://facebook.com/warresisters
