Let Them Stay

In February 2004 the first of many U.S. soldiers came to Canada, seeking sanctuary after saying "no" to the war on Iraq. Unlike the Vietnam War when over 40,000 draft dodgers and military deserters successfully struggled to make Canada their home, this new generation of war resisters has been denied refuge by the Canadian government. Now they fight a battle they could not have predicted: to make their home in a country that publicly refused to join the Iraq War and that continues to deport them. Let Them Stay is a book of oral histories, public statements and personal narratives by these soldiers of conscience and their supporters. Collected together for the first time are the declarations of a dozen war resisters, alongside important documents in the legal and political campaigns to prevent their deportation to military prison in the U.S. The anthology includes essays and updates by Rachel Brett, Lawrence Hill, Staughton Lynd, Alyssa Manning, Patricia Molloy, Noah Richler, Michelle Robidoux and Michael Valpy.