Police arrest U.S. army deserter in Nelson
ROD MICKLEBURGH From Thursday's Globe and Mail October 4, 2007 at 12:44 AM EDT
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VANCOUVER — Russell Long, a pony-tailed, dreadlocks guy, was sitting in a park with some friends this week in beautiful downtown Nelson when the local constabulary came calling.
In short order, Mr. Long found himself arrested and bundled onto a flight to Vancouver in handcuffs, perilously close to becoming the first of the growing number of deserters from the U.S. army seeking refuge in Canada to be deported back to the United States.
“I thought it was going to be very quick, that by Friday I would be back there to face criminal charges for desertion,” a relieved Mr. Long said yesterday, moments after a local supporter agreed to put up a $5,000 bond to secure his temporary release.
As it is, he is still furthest along of any deserter in Canada to being returned to the U.S., having lost all his court challenges to date, and with Canadian immigration officials preparing a pre-removal risk assessment of what awaits him south of the border.
“I'm the first to have that done,” said the 24-year-old Mr. Long, who sought refuge here in 2005 rather than go to Iraq. He now has a young child with his Canadian partner.
His detention on Monday follows the bizarre apprehension earlier this year of Kyle Snyder, another war resister staying in Nelson, who was taken off to jail in the middle of a winter's night, wearing just a toque, a robe and his boxers.
Nelson police have refused to say on whose request they detained Mr. Snyder, or why they knocked on his door at 4 a.m. They released him three hours later, after learning that he was legally in Canada as a visitor.
Although more than a hundred U.S. army deserters are believed to be in Canada, only two have been arrested, both, coincidentally, in Nelson.
CNN reporter Anderson Cooper recently labelled the idyllic, small Interior city “Resisterville” because of its reputation as a haven for those fleeing military duty with U.S. forces in Iraq.
Nelson police chief Dan Maluta, who has agreed to an outside investigation of why the boxer-clad Mr. Snyder was arrested, denied that local police were singling out war resisters, as the deserters call themselves.
He said a police officer approached Mr. Long and his friends on suspicion that they were smoking marijuana. A check disclosed that Mr. Long was wanted on an outstanding immigration warrant, and he was taken into custody. “This wasn't specific targeting. This was old-fashioned police work,” Chief Maluta told reporters.
B.C. Southern Interior MP Alex Atamanenko of the NDP happened to be on the same flight to Vancouver as the handcuffed deserter. He did not like what he saw.
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ROD MICKLEBURGH From Thursday's Globe and Mail October 4, 2007 at 12:44 AM EDT
Article Link
VANCOUVER — Russell Long, a pony-tailed, dreadlocks guy, was sitting in a park with some friends this week in beautiful downtown Nelson when the local constabulary came calling.
In short order, Mr. Long found himself arrested and bundled onto a flight to Vancouver in handcuffs, perilously close to becoming the first of the growing number of deserters from the U.S. army seeking refuge in Canada to be deported back to the United States.
“I thought it was going to be very quick, that by Friday I would be back there to face criminal charges for desertion,” a relieved Mr. Long said yesterday, moments after a local supporter agreed to put up a $5,000 bond to secure his temporary release.
As it is, he is still furthest along of any deserter in Canada to being returned to the U.S., having lost all his court challenges to date, and with Canadian immigration officials preparing a pre-removal risk assessment of what awaits him south of the border.
“I'm the first to have that done,” said the 24-year-old Mr. Long, who sought refuge here in 2005 rather than go to Iraq. He now has a young child with his Canadian partner.
His detention on Monday follows the bizarre apprehension earlier this year of Kyle Snyder, another war resister staying in Nelson, who was taken off to jail in the middle of a winter's night, wearing just a toque, a robe and his boxers.
Nelson police have refused to say on whose request they detained Mr. Snyder, or why they knocked on his door at 4 a.m. They released him three hours later, after learning that he was legally in Canada as a visitor.
Although more than a hundred U.S. army deserters are believed to be in Canada, only two have been arrested, both, coincidentally, in Nelson.
CNN reporter Anderson Cooper recently labelled the idyllic, small Interior city “Resisterville” because of its reputation as a haven for those fleeing military duty with U.S. forces in Iraq.
Nelson police chief Dan Maluta, who has agreed to an outside investigation of why the boxer-clad Mr. Snyder was arrested, denied that local police were singling out war resisters, as the deserters call themselves.
He said a police officer approached Mr. Long and his friends on suspicion that they were smoking marijuana. A check disclosed that Mr. Long was wanted on an outstanding immigration warrant, and he was taken into custody. “This wasn't specific targeting. This was old-fashioned police work,” Chief Maluta told reporters.
B.C. Southern Interior MP Alex Atamanenko of the NDP happened to be on the same flight to Vancouver as the handcuffed deserter. He did not like what he saw.
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