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."
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