Canada’s refugee board was ordered by a judge to rehear an application by a US war resister to remain in Canada. Federal Court Justice Robert Barnes said that mistakes were made by Canada’a Immigration and Refugee Board when they turned down Joshua Key’s claim for asylum. In 2003, Key served eight months in Iraq as a combat engineer. On his return to the US on leave, he his wife and four young children moved to Canada to seek refuge. There are more than two hundred US war deserters in Canada avoiding service in Iraq. A recent poll shows that 64% of Canadians would let US war resisters stay in the country. On June 3rd the Canadian parliament passed a non binding resolution calling for deserters to be allowed to stay and to put a halt to deportations. So far Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper, a close ally of the Bush administration, has ignored the resolution.
