Bill Would Welcome Military Deserters to Canada

Foreign War Resisters Would be Allowed Permanent Residency

Oct 4, 2009

Liberal MP Gerard Kennedy introduced a private member's bill to allow war resisters to remain permanently in Canada.

Bill C-440, introduced in Parliament on September 17 consists of only two sections. If passed in its present form, it would amend two sections of Canada’s Immigration and Refugee Protection Act.

Section 25 of the Act allows the Immigration Minister to grant permanent residency to a foreign national who would otherwise not be eligible to come to or remain in Canada. These foreign nationals are persons who are found to be legally inadmissible to the country because of criminality or the inability to meet the health, financial or other requirements of the legislation. The Minister, upon application of an inadmissible foreign national can review all of the circumstances and decide to grant permanent residency upon humanitarian and compassionate grounds.

Proposed Amendments to the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act

One of the proposed amendments would deem that a foreign national who has served in the military in his or her country has sufficient humanitarian and compassionate grounds to warrant permanent status in Canada. The person would have had to have left the armed services or refused to perform compulsory military service because of a moral, political or religious objection to participating in an armed conflict that has not been sanctioned by the United Nations. Grants of permanent residency would also have to be given to those who would be compelled to serve in the military should they return to their country of origin. An additional ground for the granting of permanent status in Canada would be if a fleeing soldier is or would be subject to a stop-loss order. A military stop-loss order is when a soldier signs up for a definite time period and that service can be unilaterally extended by the military.

Section 50 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act sets out various situations where valid removal orders cannot be carried out. Bill C-440 would add the situation where a military deserter is awaiting a decision on his or her application for permanent residence.

Draft Dodgers and the Vietnam War

The movement to allow war resisters to remain in Canada began with the Iraq War after some members of the U.S. military deserted the Armed Forces and came to Canada. Attempts to legally remain in Canada were largely unsuccessful. Those who made claims to be Convention refugees failed as both tribunals and the courts were reluctant to find the Iraq War illegal. Applicants who faced sanctions upon returning to the U.S. were determined to fear prosecution and not persecution, an essential element of being found to be a refugee under the Geneva Convention. Proponents of the present bill want Canada to go back to the tradition that was established during the Vietnam War when Canada willingly accepted draft dodgers and deserters to the country.

There has been criticism of Bill C-440. Some argue that Iraq is different that Vietnam because those who went or were scheduled to go to Iraq volunteered for service and were not drafted as Americans were in the 1960s and 70s. But most of the criticism is directed at the broadness of the proposed legislation.

A reading of Section 1 of the proposed amendments seemingly allows everyone who has served in their country of origin’s military and left under circumstances set out in the bill shall be granted landing in Canada despite otherwise being inadmissible. This would allow persons such as convicted rapists, terrorists and those who have committed war crimes to become permanent residents of Canada. Writing in the National Post, MP Gerard Kennedy clearly intends that this bill apply to Americans fleeing the Iraq War. But in its present form, persons anywhere in the world would be eligible for permanent residency in Canada if they leave their military under circumstances set out in the bill. Wars that are not sanctioned by the United Nations are hardly uncommon in the world.

It is rare that a private member’s bill that is introduced in Parliament to make it into law. However the opposition parties have already passed two non-binding motions to allow resisters of the Iraq war to remain in Canada. If the bill is redrafted to make it more in line with Gerard Kennedy’s intentions there is a chance that it will pass despite opposition to it from the government.

The copyright of the article Bill Would Welcome Military Deserters to Canada in Law, Crime & Justice is owned by Arthur Weinreb. Permission to republish Bill Would Welcome Military Deserters to Canada in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.