Prominent Canadians Release Statement Supporting Iraq War Resister Kimberly Rivera

Call on Jason Kenney to Make Humanitarian Application Decision

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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