(The following article is from the September 16-30, 2008, issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 133 Herkimer St., Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)

Resolution adopted by the Central Committee, Communist Party of Canada, August 24, 2008

Since the start of the illegal U.S.-led war against Iraq, growing numbers of U.S. military personnel have refused to participate in this war of aggression and occupation. Hundreds have crossed the border into Canada, many with their families, just as an earlier generation of soldiers did during U.S. imperialism's dirty war against Vietnam.

     These new war resisters base their position on the Nuremberg Tribunal, which established that under international law, soldiers have a moral duty to refuse to carry out illegal orders, such as the massive killings and torture of Iraqis. Yet in December 2004, the Canadian government (then led by Liberal PM Paul Martin) reversed Canada's former position by intervening in the first hearing of a war resister before the Immigration and Refugee Board to argue that the legality of the war had no relevance to his claim.

     From the beginning, the war resisters have been welcomed with open arms by Canadians, who have provided shelter, financial assistance, and solidarity. Opinion surveys indicate that most Canadians support the right of the war resisters to stay in Canada; a June 2007 poll conducted in Ontario, for example, found that 64.6% of respondents said that U.S. soldiers who oppose the war should be allowed to stay in Canada. Earlier this year, the House of Commons passed a resolution stating a similar position.

     But the Harper minority government continues to defy public opinion and the House of Commons on this issue, choosing instead to support efforts by the Bush administration and the Pentagon to punish the war resisters. This summer, after years of legal and political struggles, the first war resisters are nearing imminent deportation back to the U.S., where they face court martials, years in prison, and even the possibility of the death penalty for "desertion during wartime."

     The Communist Party of Canada reiterates our full solidarity with all military personnel (including Americans and Canadians) who oppose the imperialist wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and extends our unconditional support for the right of the U.S. war resisters and their families to seek sanctuary in Canada. We condemn the Harper Tories for refusing to reject U.S. demands for the return of the war resisters, yet another sellout of Canadian sovereignty. We urge all Canadians to support the September 13th pan-Canadian Day of Action to support U.S. Iraq war resisters. The members and clubs of the Communist Party will mobilize to take part in the actions, demonstrations, and pickets which will take place in cities and towns across Canada on that day.