STOP THE DEPORTATION OF U.S. WAR RESISTER ROBIN LONG

[GliderGuider]

URGENT!!! PLEASE DISTRIBUTE WIDELY!!!

WAR RESISTERS SUPPORT CAMPAIGN
www.resisters. ca 613 850 7123

EMERGENCY RALLY
STOP THE DEPORTATION OF U.S. WAR RESISTER ROBIN LONG
TIME: 4:30 PM
DATE: Wednesday, October 3, 2007
PLACE: Minto Place, 344 Slater Street (bldg where the immigration and refugee board is held), just East of Lyon St.

DETAILS: On Monday, October 1, U.S. Iraq War resister Robin Long was arrested in Nelson, B.C.. He was taken to the police station and detained.

On Tuesday, he was flown to Vancouver , where the authorities intend to bring him to the border and hand him over to the Americans.

Robin came to Canada in 2005 to seek sanctuary after leaving the US Army because of his opposition to the Iraq War. He and his Canadian partner have a year-old little boy, also a Canadian.

Robin was denied refugee status last year. He was not permitted to argue that the Iraq War is illegal, even though his decision to come to Canada was largely motivated by that conviction.
Robin Long may be deported because he refused to kill or risk his life in a war of aggression. A similar case is being appealed to the Supreme Court. No war resister should be deported from Canada until the Supreme Court has decided on these cases!

Robin would be the first U.S. Iraq War resister to be returned to the U.S. by the Canadian government. WE MUST NOT LET THIS HAPPEN!

JOIN US WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON AS WE DEMONSTRATE OUTSIDE CANADA IMMIGRATION.
CONTACT YOUR MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT.

THE WAR RESISTERS NEED YOUR SUPPORT NOW!

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1. CALL THE NELSON POLICE AND TELL THEM TO RELEASE ROBIN LONG

WAR RESISTERS SUPPORT CAMPAIGN
www.resisters.ca 416 598 1222

October 2, 2007
WAR RESISTER ARRESTED IN NELSON, B.C.
"We will deport him soon," say Nelson Police

War Resister Robin Long has been arrested by the Nelson B.C. Police who intend to take him to Vancouver and hand him over to the US authorities at the border nearby. He was seized as he walked along a street. He is now detained in the local jail. Robin was not allowed to receive visits from friends; however he was able to call his spouse. She says that he is calm and hopeful that he will soon be released.

Robin Long comes from Boise , Idaho . He joined the U.S. Army but soon found that its demands were in conflict with his principles. He left the Army and came to Canada in 2005, where he met his spouse, Renee. They have a Canadian born son aged 15 months. Anyone who has met Robin knows him to be a man of peace, with a strong concern for the environment and to the land.

The Nelson Police also arrested war resister Kyle Snyder last winter and held him until they were informed that there was no charge against him. It appears that the Nelson Police Force has made arresting US war resisters a top priority. We call on the citizens of Nelson to hold their police accountable for these actions.

The War Resisters Support Campaign is urging all or friends and supporters to CALL THE NELSON POLICE AT 250-354-3919 AND TELL THEM TO RELEASE ROBIN LONG. We urge you as well to contact your local Member of Parliament and ask her or him to help release Robin.

Robin has done nothing wrong. The charges against him are technical immigration matters which arose because he did not receive a letter sent to him, and thus did not know that he had been called in for an appointment at Canada Immigration in Thunder Bay, Ontario. Naturally if he had received the letter he would have complied with it, as he has done with all previous requests and demands.

Currently two other war resisters, Jeremy Hinzman and Brandon Hughey, are appealing to the Supreme Court of Canada against the negative decision of the Immigration and Refugee Board. As with Robin, the IRB refused to allow them to raise the issue of the illegality of the US invasion of Iraq, thus making it impossible for them to bring forward a major reason for their decision to seek refuge in Canada.

Robin Long's lawyer, Jeffry House says: "It is totally up to the Supreme Court to decide on this. It is not fair that people should be removed as if the Supreme Court had ruled on this. No US war resister should be removed until the Supreme Court decides."

[IndyOp]

2. GG - What time zone is Nelson in? Eastern Standard? Mountain? Pacific?

I will try to put in a call today, but would like to know when I am most likely to reach someone.

Also - to whom should I ask to speak at the Nelson Police Department? Is there a particular individual?

Thank you.

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3. dupe

[GliderGuider]

4. Pacific Time

Thanks!

You have all the information I do. Sorry.
I'll call the police station in a couple of hours and add the information when I find out. (It's 9:25 here and 6:25 there, so give me 2-3 hours to get back to you.)

Thanks again!

[IndyOp]

5. I am glad I asked and please do post again after you call. I will call

when I get home from work -- it will still be about 2 p.m. Pacific time.

[GliderGuider]

6. the line's busy

I'll keep trying.

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7. Update: Robin Long released

From a press release I got this morning.

IndyOp, I'm sorry but I never did get through to Nelson Police. The line was busy all day.

** High Priority **

Ottawa friends of the War Resisters Support Campaign,

A tense two days has ended in fabulous news. Persistent campaigning has
produced two fabulous results.

1) Thanks in part to nationwide protests, Robin Long has been released
from custody of immigration officials. He is no longer under imminent
threat of deportation, which officials had first indicated would happen
asap.

Visit the follow sources for more information:

Our national campaign website: www.resisters.ca

CP News story:
http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5h71KW4EfyPOc7T8GCjiMAUi0EeTA

2) Today the Bloc Quebecois announced they fully support our campaign.
This is a major breakthrough in Quebec, where we know the vast majority
of citizens support our campaign.

Let's keep this momentum going!

[IndyOp]

8. Yeah! Thanks for posting this good news.

Canada has every right to make laws about who they will allow to emigrate and how -- but given that procedures were not followed in this case I think that deporting him would be particularly unfair. I do wish, of course, that Canada would open the border to U.S. citizens who are AWOL as a matter of conscience or AWOL as a result of mental or physical illness.

:hi:

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9. It isn`t over yet

A couple of other war resisters have their case before the Supreme Court. Their lawyer is, in fact, an old draft dodger from the first time `round.
One of the arguements for not tossing Long out of the country is that we`re waiting for the Supreme Court`s decision.

Either way it goes, anyone who`s at all familiar with the Nuremberg trials knows that these guys` refusal to follow illegal orders is the correct thing to do.

It was someone in BC who supports the war reisters who posted the bond. This is a real Canadian.

I`m just a lowly private citizen so I don`t have a say (because my MP has no time for tree-hugging peaceniks even though he`s the Minister of Environment), but I and many others agree that helping your soldiers to not kill people is what we want to stand for.