Mr. Speaker, last week I wrote to the Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism, urging him to grant conscientious objector Kimberly Rivera permanent residency status on humanitarian and compassionate grounds.
Like many of us here in Canada, Kimberly opposed the U.S. war in Iraq. Even the Prime Minister called the war an “absolute error”.
Now Kimberly faces a deportation order and the real possibility that she will be jailed in the United States and separated from her children, two of whom were born here in Canada. This is just wrong.
In this morning's Globe and Mail, Archbishop Desmond Tutu wrote:
During the struggle against the apartheid regime in South Africa, we were sustained by the knowledge of the support we had in the international community. Ms. Rivera has my support and the support of all those who desperately want humanity to move along a path of peace.
I again call on the government to do the right thing and let this family stay in Canada and stay together.