On the Edge of a Fall
By
Ed Note: Nicole Guiniling is the wife of one of the group of Toronto Resisters known as the 49ers. The groups name is a reference to the 49th Parallel that separates Canada from the US. Our mutual friend Nick Velvet shared this post from Nicole's blog with me. I was knocked out. So, I asked Nicole if we could repost it here on VetSpeak, as part of our Fall focus on the resisters, and the recently launched Amnesty For Resisters 2.0 Campaign. I also asked if she would consider establishing an "through the eyes of" By-line regarding the 49ers and their struggles. To all of ours' benefit, she has agreed. WH
Kim Rivera's De facto Deportation Marks a Changing of the Season for War resisters in Canada
September 21st was the last day
of Summer. September 20th
marked the last day in Canada for Kimberly Rivera and her family.
I had to bite my lip and read Laura K’s account of the last few days Kim had in Canada–it’ll
break your heart, and that’s why you need to read it.
There is an anger in me. And a sadness. And it becomes difficult to write when you don’t know what to say.
There is something so vulgar and contemptuous, even in the
drudgery of paperwork, coming from the current actions of the Conservative
Government. This “request to leave” comes as the beginning of a new push by
Harper and his Immigration Minister, Jason Kenney*. Of course, War Resisters
aren’t the only community being affected. I mean, what is this steamrolling garbage
about Jason Kenney vilifying over 3000 new Canadians as “fraudsters“?
I guess terms like “bogus refugees” aren’t just being used on U.S. war
resisters, of whom 90,000 of their compatriots came to Canada during the
Vietnam war (draft dodgers and deserters alike, welcomed with open arms).(*Writer’s
note: Since writing this article a week ago, Kenney has made headlines twice
more: first, for his pink-wash
spam sent to the LGBT community about the Conservatives’
support of gay refugees [serious attention was given to refugees who have fled
Iran], and then with his very vocal enthusiasm for the anti-choice Motion-312 [it
was defeated--thank goodness we're not losing everything this
country has fought for over the last 40 years].
Energy was very high before word came down that Kim’s appeal had
been denied. When you’re confident that you’ve done all you can and still, the
doors for compassion from above slam in your face… words stutter. Thoughts act
like prey. They freeze, shrink back, play dead. I’ve considered that my
own thoughts have seasons–Spring and her riots of colour are followed by a mix
of drought and harvest respectively, until the final days of retreat
to protect what perennially remains, a warm and living core–this is all cyclical,
but shit like the Conservatives are like climate change–messing up the natural
order. The war resisters and their families may also, coincidentally,
be entering their Autumn now.
It began on August 30, when Immigration formally asked Kim to
leave Canada by September 20. From there, it was a campaign: an uphill battle,
but one with a lot of hope. It was so obviously wrong, for so many reasons. It
meant a productive whirlwind of harnessing a letter or phone call or petition
signature from every Canadian who opposed the Conservative’s anti-resister
agenda; and sending it to Ottawa. And that is a tree ripe with fruit: Canadians
in the majority, whenever polled, have supported war resisters and their right
to remain in Canada. And we saw that reflected in support for Kim from 20,000
people who wrote letters to Immigration Minister Kenney, through the Change.org
web campaign; we saw it in thousands of petition signatures and phone calls to
Kenney’s office that, at the peak on Sept 19th, averaged at 3 incoming calls per
minute from across the country.
But as with other concepts of a majority, the Conservative party
chooses to misinterpret the data. And so despite Canadians’ support of these
brave men and women who turned their worlds upside down and left their homes at
the behest of their consciences, every victory gained for U.S. war resisters in
Canada has been fought for, legally and politically. When this started last
month, that open stretch of track in front of me–in front of all of us–looked
really promising. We’d won stays of deportation before–we could do it again.
Kim hadn’t even received a decision on her H&C application, a request to
receive special consideration on Humanitarian and Compassionate grounds (two of
her children are Canadian citizens, after all…) As far as I know, this
contradicts Immigration Canada’s own procedures.
We could spend a lot of time as progressives blaming ourselves.
But there is a ferocity against the resisters this time around that I didn’t
see in previous times. The landscape is changing. Online news sites have been
completely astro-turfed by
Conservative trollers on this issue. We’re over a decade into an era of
U.S.-led war and occupation, and we’re debating the worthiness of a cause that
was overwhelmingly acceptable in this country 40 years ago.U.S. online forums
are even worse. I don’t think I’ve seen one more brutal than the posts on the ArmyTimes.com-
understandably, read by the most gung-ho, confused FUBAR’s in the military…
people who post things like “I’ve been on 6 deployments… it’s time for Kim to
do her share!” Yea, buddy, if Kim hadn’t left, you totally wouldn’t have had
your rights as a soldier and U.S. citizen violated.
I try not to be pessimistic, but I can’t help but think about
it… When will it happen for us? When will my husband cross the border and be
taken away in handcuffs–for refusing to kill any more people? For refusing to
destroy himself?
This, and the closing of the Iran embassy last week gives me the
chills… the feeling that the climate in Ottawa is getting colder faster than
the rest of the country. I have confidence that the NDP could promise us a government in
2015, they have the support, but for the first time I have a very real fear
that this will be far too late. The fact that their popularity could get them
in with a minority government were there an election today,
makes the risky and destructive moves by the Conservatives all the more
frightening.
The mental image I get is a man with a gun who’s starting to take
hostages because he knows he’s surrounded. Likewise, it will be a mission of
Harper and Kenney to kick out every war resister in Canada before they
themselves are kicked out of office by a democratic vote…
Of course I’m pessimistic right now. There is this chill in the
air.
More On Kimberly Rivera's arrest:
More On Kimberly Rivera's arrest:
