A U.S. Army deserter living in Canada, Cornell had been told to leave the country by Dec. 19 or be deported. However, an appeal to delay the deportation order was successful, and a hearing is now scheduled for Jan. 22.
While delighted with the extension, Cornell, 28, says the “waiting game” is making him nervous.
“It’s very stressful not knowing what’s going to happen.”
Originally from Arkansas, Cornell went AWOL from his unit in Fort Stewart, Georgia, and arrived in Toronto in January 2005. He currently works at the general store on Gabriola Island, British Columbia, a small community on the west coast of the country.
Other war resisters in a similar situation are Dean Walcott and Patrick Hart and his family, both of whom are also scheduled for deportation in January. The Federal Court will hear an appeal against war resister Jeremy Hinzeman’s deportation order on Feb. 10.
The War Resisters Support Campaign (WRSC) is calling on the federal government to implement a motion adopted by Parliament in June which recommended that “conscientious objectors to wars not sanctioned by the Security Council of the United Nations” be allowed to remain in Canada.
Adopted by a vote of 137–110, the motion also recommended the government stop deportation proceedings against all war resisters in Canada.
Incentives for Cornell to join the army initially were a $9,000 enlistment bonus and job training. He says he told the army recruiter he dealt with that he was “not a fighter” and received assurances that he would not have to go to a war zone.
However, his unit was deployed to Iraq in February 2006.
If deported, Cornell could receive a prison sentence as well as a dishonorable discharge. He could also be deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan. Robin Long, who was deported in 2006, is currently serving 15 months in jail. He is the only war resister so far to be deported from Canada.
Cornell’s application for refugee status was denied by the Immigration and Refugee Board as have applications by all war resisters to date.
“Insofar as they would face persecution were they to return to the United States given the fact that they have spoken out against the war, we think they do qualify for refugee status,” says Valerie Lannon of the Victoria WRSC.
However, Alykhan Velshi, communications director for Immigration Minister Jason Kenney, says U.S. war deserters are not genuine refugees and this has been upheld by the Immigration and Refugee Board, the Federal Court, and the Court of Appeals.
Velshi adds that the asylum claims of U.S. war resisters has the effect of creating delays in cases of “actual refugees who face real persecution” and are something “U.S. war deserters will have to weigh on their conscience.”
In a different political climate over three decades ago, Canada did provide a safe haven for U.S. war deserters. When about 50,000 draft dodgers and conscientious objectors to the Vietnam War fled to Canada between 1965 and 1973, they were welcomed by then-Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau who declared that “Canada should be a refuge from militarism.”
It is unknown exactly how many Iraq war deserters are in Canada. Lannon says that as well as the 50–60 who are associated with WRSC, there are “several hundred” others who have made contact with the organization.
“I think they’re watching to see what will happen politically,” she says. “We also know that there are over 10,000 that are AWOL from the military, and we can assume that a number of them are in Canada.”
Cornell believes enough public pressure on the government by his supporters could result in his being allowed to stay.
“I love it here. I’m established, I’ve got friends who are like family, a good job, a cat—I’m pretty well set up. Going back to America … I have nothing there now and having to start all over again wouldn’t be easy.”
