| | |  Americas & Beyond | July 2008 
Canada Deports US Soldier
 Associated Press
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| | Robin Long, a US army deserter, walks to a Vancouver hearing room. Long's deportation marks a change in practice, as Canada had never before sent an Iraq war resister back to the US. (Lyle Stafford/The Globe and Mail) | | |
Vancouver, British Columbia - A U.S. Army deserter who fled to Canada three years ago was deported Tuesday to America, marking the first time a resister to the U.S war effort in Iraq has been removed by Canadian authorities.
Paula Shore, spokeswoman for the Canada Border Services Agency, confirmed that Robin Long, 25, was deported, but she could not discuss specifics of the case, including Long's destination.
Long fled to Canada in 2005 to avoid serving in Iraq. He sought refuge in Canada on the grounds that the U.S. Army wanted him to participate in what he called an ''illegal war of aggression in Iraq.''
Justice Anne Mactavish of the Federal Court of Canada ruled Monday that Long couldn't provide clear evidence he would suffer irreparable harm if he was returned to the United States.
In her ruling, Mactavish said that although the percentage of American military deserters prosecuted for desertion has increased since 2002, the vast majority have not been prosecuted or faced jail time.
Last week, the Federal Court blocked the deportation of National Guard Sgt. Corey Glass, 25, while it decides whether to hear his case. Glass refused redeployment to Iraq.
Long and Glass were among some 200 American deserters believed to have come to Canada trying to avoid service in Iraq. So far, Canadian immigration officials and the courts have rejected efforts to grant them refugee status.
During the Vietnam War, up to 90,000 Americans successfully won refuge in Canada, most of them to avoid the military draft. The majority went home after the United States granted amnesty in the late 1970s. |
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