{"id":63267,"date":"2020-02-05T15:46:26","date_gmt":"2020-02-05T20:46:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsroom.carleton.ca\/?post_type=cu_story&p=63267"},"modified":"2025-10-17T16:29:26","modified_gmt":"2025-10-17T20:29:26","slug":"safe-haven-war-resistors","status":"publish","type":"cu_story","link":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/story\/safe-haven-war-resistors\/","title":{"rendered":"Examining Canada\u2019s Image as a Safe Haven for War Resistors"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n Examining Canada\u2019s Image as a Safe Haven for War Resistors\n <\/h1>\n \n <\/header>\n <\/div>\n\n \n <\/path>\n <\/path>\n <\/svg>\n <\/div>\n\n \n\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n

War resistors are a very particular kind of migrant \u2013 and a very politicized kind.  During the Vietnam War era, tens of thousands of war-resisting Americans fled to Canada, and their integration into Canadian society helped cement the country\u2019s peace-loving image. But when U.S. soldiers began fleeing to Canada to resist the War on Terror in the 2000s, politicians were less welcoming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn 1970, Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau famously said that Canada should be a refuge from militarism,\u201d says Alison Mountz, Canada Research Chair in Global Migration<\/a> at Wilfrid Laurier University\u2019s Balsillie School of International Affairs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Alison
Alison Mountz<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

At Richcraft Hall on January 29, Mountz delivered \u201cCanada as a safe haven?\u201d, a lecture that illuminated the very different experiences of two generations of U.S. war resistors. In the first lecture in what is planned to become an annual event on Borders and Migration within the FPA Research Series<\/a>, Mountz shared insights from archival research and video footage from an upcoming documentary film on the oral histories of war resistors.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201cIn 2009, Jason Kenney \u2013 then the Minister of Immigration under the Harper administration \u2013 publicly referred to U.S. resistors who filed refugee claims as \u2018bogus refugees\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

This type of interpretation of is often rooted in their voluntary enlistment in the U.S. military. But that assessment is problematic, says Mountz.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt overlooks some of the reasons why people enlist. It is important to problematize the idea of voluntary enlistment because many people who came to Canada during this time have stories of having few choices. Military enlistment is highly classed and highly racialized. People often enlist for livelihood, to access health insurance and to access higher education.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Iraq war resistors were far fewer in number than Vietnam war resistors had been \u2013 just a few hundred, compared to tens of thousands. Some claimed that military recruiters had lied to them. Even in war zones, many soldiers never see combat. Overseas wars involve thousands of enlisted support staff who maintain equipment, manage logistics and plan operations. Some resistors claimed they had been assured they would perform this type of work \u2013 then found themselves training for combat. It wasn\u2019t what they\u2019d signed up for. Still, every Iraq war resistor\u2019s refugee claim was denied.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vietnam war resistors had very different experiences, though Mountz notes that entry to Canada could be more difficult for deserters than it was for draft dodgers avoiding mandatory service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe first cohort essentially came as immigrants,\u201d Mountz says. \u201cThey filed their applications, and they were assessed with the points system.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201cThis was a much simpler time for people who were coming. Many filed applications when they arrived, and tell stories of driving back to the border a few months later for a formal interview, then being handed their landed immigrant status \u2013 what would today be called permanent residency.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Mountz shared the story of a war resistor named John \u2013 not his real name \u2013 who fled to Canada in 1971.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cJohn’s flight to Vietnam was scheduled to depart, and he decided to leave,\u201d Mountz says. \u201cHe came to Canada in a Volkswagen with his partner, his belongings packed into the trunk like Russian dolls.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey used a wedding dress to cover their candles, records, clothing and a few books \u2013 and told the border guard they were coming to B.C. on their honeymoon. The border guard wished them a good holiday, and they drove straight to meet with a community organization in Vancouver. A few months later, a border officer put his hand on John\u2019s back and said \u2018Welcome to Canada\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet in spite of John\u2019s legal immigration status, the border \u2013 and the experience of war resistance \u2013 lingered.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201cJohn has described how this history follows him. He has moved progressively farther away from the border \u2013 starting out in Vancouver and Victoria, then eventually moving into the interior. He still has nightmares and remembers this stressful time, recalling each detail like it was yesterday.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

For many war resistors, the Canada-U.S. border was more than a fixed place or territorial delineation. It played a key role in where and how they lived his lives. In the coming years, Carleton\u2019s Borders and Migration lecture series will continue to interrogate how borders connect, divide and distribute people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis lecture series is not about migration in a generic sense, nor is it another research initiative devoted to borders in all their multiplicity,\u201d says William Walters, who is sponsoring and organizing the lecture series.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Walters is a professor of Politics in Carleton\u2019s Political Science and Sociology & Anthropology departments. He currently holds a Research Excellence Chair<\/a> with the Faculty of Public Affairs<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt’s about seeing and understanding migration from the angle of borders, and conversely, borders from the angle of migration.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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War resistors are a very particular kind of migrant \u2013 and a very politicized kind.  During the Vietnam War era, tens of thousands of war-resisting Americans fled to Canada, and their integration into Canadian society helped cement the country\u2019s peace-loving image. But when U.S. soldiers began fleeing to Canada to resist the War on Terror […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":410,"featured_media":63273,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"cu_story_type":[13],"cu_story_tag":[1920,1921],"class_list":["post-63267","cu_story","type-cu_story","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","cu_story_type-research-discovery","cu_story_tag-faculty-of-arts-and-social-sciences","cu_story_tag-faculty-of-public-and-global-affairs"],"acf":{"cu_post_thumbnail":"blueprint"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story\/63267","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/cu_story"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/410"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story\/63267\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":98480,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story\/63267\/revisions\/98480"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/63273"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63267"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"cu_story_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story_type?post=63267"},{"taxonomy":"cu_story_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story_tag?post=63267"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}