
U.S. war dodgers urge Trudeau to let them stay; decry inaction on promises
TORONTO — American soldiers who fled to Canada rather than fight in Iraq joined activists and a Liberal backbencher on Friday to urge the government of Justin Trudeau to end legal action against them and grant them residency status.
Bolstered by a recent British report that found no justification for the bloody U.S.-led invasion, the war resisters pleaded for the Liberal government to make good on promises to end their state of limbo.
“I’m shocked and dismayed that it’s still going on,” former U.S. Marine Cpl. Dean Walcott, 34, who came to Canada in 2006, told a news conference.
Walcott, who lives with his wife and Canadian-born children in Peterborough, Ont., is one of four American soldiers whose cases are due in Federal Court in September. Activists say the litigation is going forward even though Trudeau expressed support for the war dodgers during last year’s election campaign and told The Canadian Press earlier this year that his government was actively looking into the issue.