American War Resister Arrested in Canada

WAR RESISTERS SUPPORT CAMPAIGN
www.resisters.ca
416 598 1222

October 2, 2007
WAR RESISTER ARRESTED IN NELSON, B.C.
"We will deport him soon," say Nelson Police

War Resister Robin Long has been arrested by the Nelson B.C. Police who intend to take him to Vancouver and hand him over to the US authorities at the border nearby. He was seized as he walked along a street. He is now detained in the local jail. Robin was not allowed to receive visits from friends; however he was able to call his spouse. She says that he is calm and hopeful that he will soon be released.

Robin Long comes from Boise, Idaho. He joined the U.S. Army but soon found that its demands were in conflict with his principles. He left the Army and came to Canada in 2005, where he met his spouse, Renee. They have a Canadian born son aged 15 months. Anyone who has met Robin knows him to be a man of peace, with a strong concern for the environment and to the land.

The Nelson Police also arrested war resister Kyle Snyder last winter and held him until they were informed that there was no charge against him. It appears that the Nelson Police Force has made arresting US war resisters a top priority. We call on the citizens of Nelson to hold their police accountable for these actions.

The War Resisters Support Campaign is urging all or friends and supporters to CALL THE NELSON POLICE AT 250-354-3919 AND TELL THEM TO RELEASE ROBIN LONG. We urge you as well to contact your local Member of Parliament and ask her or him to help release Robin.

Robin has done nothing wrong. The charges against him are technical immigration matters which arose because he did not receive a letter sent to him, and thus did not know that he had been called in for an appointment at Canada Immigration in Thunder Bay, Ontario. Naturally if he had received the letter he would have complied with it, as he has done with all previous requests and demands.

Currently two other war resisters, Jeremy Hinzman and Brandon Hughey, are appealing to the Supreme Court of Canada against the negative decision of the Immigration and Refugee Board. As with Robin, the IRB refused to allow them to raise the issue of the illegality of the US invasion of Iraq, thus making it impossible for them to bring forward a major reason for their decision to seek refuge in Canada.

Robin Long's lawyer, Jeffry House says: "It is totally up to the Supreme Court to decide on this. It is not fair that people should be removed as if the Supreme Court had ruled on this. No US war resister should be removed until the Supreme Court decides."

War Resisters Support Campaign
Vancouver