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Hell Frozen Over; Welcome to Canada The Kaptain's Log
by Kaptain Liberty a.k.a. Manuel Miles
manuel_miles@shaw.ca

Attribute to The Libertarian Enterprise

Yes, I know—I'm Kaptain Kanada, but that may have to change. You see, I'm so old ("How old are you?") that I remember when Canada was a generally peaceful land with a generally peaceful foreign policy. This only made sense, as Canada is a land of immigrants, many of whom fled militarism in their homelands. Now, however, in both its internal and external policies, the federal state is just another obedient client of the US empire. As witness just two recent acts which demonstrate how the national welcome mat has been replaced by those two painted footprints on which you stand while being frisked at the airport:

First: the immigration appeal board just rejected the pleas for asylum of two American war resisters, Brandon Hughey and Jeremy Hinzman, who refused to go to Iraq and now wish to immigrate to Canada. These principled young men represent what is best and most courageous in the American people and they have the support of a majority of Canadians, but the federal bureaucrats no longer allow immigrants from the US who dare to oppose the wars of the New World disOrder.

So now their last hope to remain here and continue to contribute to the building of a better Canada (and man, do we ever need that!) lies in an appeal to the political opposition in Ottawa's Parliament. To do what little I can to this end, I sent the following email letter to three MPs last week:

Sir:

I am a Canadian of American origin. In 1968 I refused induction into the US military because of my opposition to the illegality and immorality of the vicious war being waged against the Vietnamese civilian population. I am not alone; if you look at the number of young American men who immigrated to Canada between 1965 and 1973, you will get an idea of how many middle-aged Canadians are war resisters. Believe me, we didn't come for the climate.

We settled here, lost our southern accents, married Canadian girls, raised Canadian children, and became Canadian through and through. When US president Jimmy Carter declared an "amnesty" for Viet Nam War resisters, we welcomed the chance to visit American friends and relatives but, overwhelmingly, we stayed put. We have contributed to all spheres of Canadian life, and have enriched our beloved adopted homeland.

I am fond of saying that, "There are Canadians by chance, and Canadians by choice; I'm Canadian by choice." Old Sir John A. MacDonald said it well, also, "Though I was not a Canadian born, a Canadian I shall die!" I am sure that I needn't remind you, Mr Bevilacqua, that this land was built by immigrants, many of whom were fleeing militarism in their homelands.

Now the US is engaged in another doomed attempt to suppress Iraqi opposition to their occupation. Sadly, the US government and military have learned nothing since 1973. Yet another generation of young Americans is being brutalised by the inherent evils of military occupation, not to mention the countless innocent Iraqis who have been victims of Abu Ghraib and other torture chambers.

Fortunately, a few of those young people have had the courage to refuse to continue to take part in this evil. Now that the Supreme Court has ruled against two of these young men, their last hope to avoid persecution for their principled stand lies in the hands of Parliament. And believe me, the architects of Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay and myriad "secret prisons" will, in fact, persecute them in order to "make a lesson of them".

I urge you to support the motion in favour of allowing US Iraq War resisters to stay and make new homes in Canada) which will be made to the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration on Tuesday, Nov 20.

Should the government of Canada fail justice by refusing sanctuary to principled young Americans, it would be a black day not only for the 100,000+ middle-aged Canadian men of American origin, but for the clear majority of Canadians who not only oppose the US occupation of Iraq, but who treasure our long history of welcoming refugees from militarism.

Sincerely,

C. Manuel Miles
Victoria, British Columbia

It probably wouldn't hurt if my legions of American readers would write emails to the Prime Minister of Canada, Steven Harper at: [email protected], and the Leader of the Opposition, M. Stephane Dion at: [email protected], indicating their support for the American war resisters who seek to build a new life in Canada.

Second: as part of the government's campaign to not only make our airports more "secure" but also to discourage decent people from immigrating here, they have sent the geheimstaatspolizei, aka RCMP, to selectively murder immigrants. If you think I overstate the case, just type the name "Robert Dziekanski" into Google and YouTube. After reading the first half dozen or so of the Google entries, then go to YouTube and watch the video taken by an eyewitness.

In brief, Mr Dziekanski, whose mother was already an immigrant here, had followed her and immigrated also, and arrived at Vancouver International Airport. There, he experienced an ordeal and unprovoked violent death which even Franz Kafka would have found to be horrifyingly bizarre.

After being dumped by our noble Customs and Immigration officials in a physical limbo area, his attempts to find out why he was not able to continue through to his waiting mother were met with indifference by every airport "official". The man could speak no English, but in Canada, especially in a large airport, it is no great feat to find someone who speaks Polish, not to mention Tagalog, Farsi, Szechuanese or Urdu. Yet nobody made any attempt to assist the poor man.

After enduring this ordeal for ten hours he became frustrated, agitated and angry—which is certainly normal. (Me, I'd have lost my cool after just a couple of hours, but we already know that I'm a menace to the God damned state.) Apparently he slammed a magazine on a counter and/or kicked a chair or some such action which threatens the security of the fragile Canadian federal state.

Well, at that point, Something Had To Be Done. And so it was; some official idiot called on the minions of the R.C.M.P. (Rotten Cowardly Murdering Punks), and what followed has to be seen to be believed. Send the children from the room before you go to YouTube.

The federal thugs attacked the man, although he was in no way aggressive, tasered him twice, then knee-dropped him on the head as he lay dying on the floor. The witness who recorded the murder on his cell phone had it confiscated by the cops, who promised to return it to him in a couple of hours. Well, guess what? The bastards lied. The witness went to court to get it returned, while the head cops lied as to what happened. Once the video was returned and hit the internet, the cops hit the fan.

Of course, after a silly series of posturing "investigations", the culprits will be quietly transferred to some other place where they can practice their "security" techniques on other victims. In Canada, you see, the cops can kill with impunity (there are many, many other such cases—Google the name "Ian Bush", for example), because without their de facto immunity, we wouldn't have all this wonderful "law and order" and "security".

From which may God save us, that we Canadians might finally live in a land of. . .

Peace and Liberty.

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