US deserters can stay in Canada: Commons

US soldier Megan Bean admits she was a little naive to think the Iraq War was all about peacekeeping. "We were over there to maintain the peace and we were trying to hand it over to the Iraqis," said the 19-year-old from Titusville, PA, who joined the US Navy out of high school with husband Chris Bean, 19. "This is what we always heard." The couple fled for uncertain amnesty in Canada last month when they learned Chris would be involuntarily sent on a combat mission to Iraq to take part in what they came to believe was an unjust war. "You don't sign up for [the US Navy] to see a bunch of people kill for no reason," Megan said. The young couple was in Ottawa this past week to celebrate a motion passed by all three opposition parties in the House of Commons urging the government to allow US military deserters and their families to remain in Canada as permanent residents instead of deporting them to face possible jail time. But the motion is non-binding and the victory was bittersweet as the government is likely to ignore it. US soldiers who have deserted the military because of the war in Iraq should be allowed to stay permanently in Canada, the House of Commons voted in a non-binding motion on June 3. The three opposition parties, which together hold a majority of seats in the House, backed a motion that said the government should allow conscientious objectors and their families "who have refused or left military service related to a war not sanctioned by the United Nations" to stay in Canada. Canada was a haven for tens of thousands of draft dodgers during the Vietnam War and has attracted an estimated 175 to 200 Americans who are resisting the Iraq War. "I think Canada has always been a place which has welcomed those who seek peace and seek freedom," Bob Rae, foreign affairs spokesman for the main opposition Liberal Party, told reporters outside the Commons after the vote. The Supreme Court of Canada refused last November to hear appeals of two US deserters whose applications for refugee status had been turned down by immigration authorities. But "the Harper Conservatives must respect this and immediately implement this motion," said Olivia Chow, the Toronto New Democrat who moved the new House motion. "Ordinary people want the Iraq War resisters to stay." "This is a great victory for the courageous men and women who have come to Canada because they refuse to take part in the illegal, immoral Iraq War," said Toronto-based War Resisters Support Campaign coordinator Lee Zaslofsky, a Vietnam deserter who came to Canada in 1970. The motion called on the government to "immediately implement a program to allow conscientious objectors and their immediate family members... to apply for permanent resident status and remain in Canada." The Conservatives also should "cease any removal or deportation actions," the motion said.