Antiwar Group Fears Speakers will be Blocked at Border

[babylonsister]

Antiwar Group Fears Speakers will be Blocked at Border
by Doug Ward


VANCOUVER - Organizers of an antiwar conference in Vancouver this weekend fear that Canada Border Services may prohibit their keynote speaker, retired U.S. Army Colonel Ann Wright, from entering the country.

Wright was denied entry into Canada twice last year because her name is on a FBI watch list due to misdemeanor convictions stemming from her participation in antiwar demonstrations.

“The Canadian government should not be using this FBI list as a basis for denying entry into Canada,” said Issac Romano, organizer of the Our Way Home conference, which is honouring American women who came to Canada during the ’60s and ’70s due to their opposition to the Vietnam War.

Romano said it is “ironic” that Canada would bar Wright considering that Canada decided not to join the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq and welcomed American draft dodgers and deserters during the Vietnam War.

After a long career in the army, Wright joined the U.S. State Department in 1987, serving as a diplomat in various countries.

She resigned from the State Department over the U.S. invasion of Iraq. Since then Wright has emerged as a leading American antiwar activist.

more...

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/06/01/9352/

[PDJane]

1. Yes, they did.

Yes, we do. And the border folks aren't intelligent about the use of that watch list. I sincerely hope the flurry of letters, e-mails and faxes after they banned Col. Wright the last time worked on the knee-jerk reaction, and I will be waiting to see what comes of this. Thanks, babylonsister.