Mr. Speaker, I would like to speak today about three conscientious objectors, war resisters, who live in London, Ontario, and tell very briefly one story about Josh Randall who enlisted in 2006.
Josh came from a very economically depressed area and his family was in difficulty. He wanted training to be a medic and the U.S. military offered that training. He believed he would be defending his country but he was shipped off to Iraq. In Iraq, he experienced some quite traumatic things, including going on the late night raiding parties. As a young 18-year-old, he was taken on one of these late night raiding parties.
What happens on these raids is that explosives are put around the door of a house where it is suspected there might be men and the door is blown inward.
Josh was with three others when they went to this house. When the door exploded inward, a 10-year-old female was hit with shrapnel and wood splinters in the face, neck and abdomen. Josh wanted to help her because, as a medic, he knew that if he did not help her she would die. The sergeant said “No, no. We haven't time for this.” Josh left the military because he knew that was happening over and over again.
Is there no compassion for these young people? During the Vietnam War, we, in Canada, allowed conscientious objectors to stay. Why not now?