During the Vietnam War draft dodgers fled to Canada in droves. This time around there have been an estimated 175 to 200 Americans who are resisting the Iraq conflict who have crossed the border to Canada to escape fighting in a war that is not sanctioned by the United Nations.
“I think Canada has always been a place which has welcomed those who seek peace and seek freedom,” Bob Rae, foreign affairs spokesman for the main opposition Liberal Party, told reporters outside the Commons after the vote.
The minority Conservative government though opposes the idea of allowing those who are in the United States military from escaping service by crossing the border.
People do not join with their eyes closed. If they do, then they have their own problems,” Conservative Member of Parliament Laurie Hawn, a retired lieutenant colonel in the Canadian Air Force, said during debate on the motion.
The Conservatives contend that because today’s military in the United States is made up of volunteers that the policies from the Vietnam Era do not apply. They also state that Washington D.C. allows for people to apply for conscientious objector status.
Still the House voted Tuesday in a nonbinding motion to allow for those soldiers to stay in Canada. The Supreme Court of Canada refused last November to hear appeals of two U.S. deserters. There is no telling what future will hold for those in question.
