Court Date and Vigil for Dean Walcott POSTPONED

War resister Dean Walcott's court date has been postponed for administrative reasons. That means there's no vigil tomorrow, so don't show up!

Instead, why not use the time to support Rodney Watson?

Tomorrow, Wednesday August 19, is a day to raise our voices in protest and plea: stop the deportation of US war resister Rodney Watson.

The Conservative government continues to ignore the direction of Parliament by deporting Rodney back to the US where he faces punishment for refusing to redeploy to Iraq.

Rodney, who currently lives in Vancouver, served a year in Iraq. His contract was unilaterally - non-voluntarily - extended for an additional year. He refused a second deployment to Iraq.

"I realized the war had nothing to do with 9/11 or helping Iraqis or stopping terrorists," said Watson. "It's all about guarding oil for the U.S."

Canada's Parliament, supported by a majority of Canadians, has repeatedly called on the Harper government to stop the deportations and allow war resisters to stay.

The recent Federal Court decision in the case of Iraq war resister Kimberly Rivera reflects the broad consensus in this country opposing the punishment of those who refused to participate in this illegal and immoral war.

On August 19, let's send a message from all across the country that Canadians want the deportations to stop now.Even if you have written or called before, it is very important that you contact these politicians again.

Please call or email the Immigration Minister, the Parliamentary Secretaries to the minister, and the Prime Minister.

Ask them to honour the will of Parliament, and stop the deportation of Rodney Watson and the other war resisters.

Remind them that 64% of Canadians feel that US war resisters should be allowed to stay.

Remind them that all three opposition party immigration critics have called on the government to not use the summer recess to disregard the expressed will of Parliament.

Rally for Rodney contact details

Please call, email, or write a letter to:

The Hon. Jason Kenney, Minister of Citizenship and Immigration
Citizenship and Immigration Canada
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 1L1
613.954.1064 (Ministry office) or 613.992.2235 (Parliamentary office)
minister@cic.gc.ca AND kenney.j@parl.gc.ca

Alice Wong, Parliamentary Secretary to Minister Kenney
604.775.5790 (riding office) or 1.877.775.5790 (Ottawa office)
WongA1@parl.gc.ca AND wonga@parl.gc.ca

Rick Dykstra, Parliamentary Secretary to Minister Kenney
905.934.6767 (riding office) or 613.992.3352 (Ottawa office)
dykstr@parl.gc.ca

The Right Hon. Stephen Harper
Office of the Prime Minister
80 Wellington Street
Ottawa K1A 0A2
613.992.4211
pm@pm.gc.ca

Please cc the opposition party leaders:
Liberal party leader Michael Ignatieff: ignatm@parl.gc.ca
Bloc Québécois leader Gilles Duceppe: ducepg@parl.gc.ca
NDP leader Jack Layton: laytoj@parl.gc.ca

Rally in every way you can think of: write letters to your local newspaper, blog, Facebook, Twitter. But most importantly, contact the Government. Tell them to respect democracy and Let Them Stay!

-thanks to We Move To Canada