The other day I found myself in a conversation with a security guard at a shopping mall while I was waiting for my daughter. He told me he was a former member of Canada’s armed forces. I immediately put out my hand and thanked him for protecting my family. I make a point of doing that every time I meet anyone serving in our forces or anyone who formerly served.
We often talk about the great freedoms we have here, including our most important freedom, to purchase homes and own land. Regardless of what side of the arguments you are on in the conflicts that there are in the world, the people in our armed forces truly believe in protecting us from any harm these troubles may cause and they deserve our sincere thanks for setting out to do that. If you are not grateful to them, shame on you.
I have lived in this country for about 60 years now but I never forget that I was not born here. I immigrated to this fantastic place from a country that did not have the freedoms many here take for granted. Our freedom goes beyond the opportunity to buy our homes. It includes our movement from coast to coast and our right to choose how we live as well as where we live.
Our soldiers stand for our right to be free and that even includes our right not to fight. We don’t have to be soldiers in Canada. We are free to choose. A lot of countries, even some that are in what we call the free world, don’t give that choice to their citizens. They have a military draft.
During the sixties, my wife and I gave our support to an organization that helped young men who had come from the United States to escape the military draft, and from orders to go to war in Vietnam. We helped them get to the Anti-Draft office in Toronto and for some, on to Ottawa where they would file papers to stay in Canada. I was then and I am to this day proud of helping them. I am proud that this country let them stay here. At the end of the day they were protected from going to jail in America by our laws that were backed up by our soldiers.
War and world conflicts are things that I defy anyone to understand. I know I can’t. All I can do is take it down to my level here where I live. I shake the hands of soldiers and former soldiers meaningfully and thank them with all my heart for protecting my family. Soldiers are different from those who create war.
I will also help anyone I can who does not want to fight, even someone who signed up to fight in war but changed their mind.
As much as this beautiful country has evolved to so many greater things than when I arrived here in 1953 I am saddened to see that some things have changed for the worse since the sixties. Canada has a different government today. The great benevolence our country once had in accepting young people from the United States who did not want to fight in the Vietnam War is gone. There is a different attitude here now.
America no longer has a draft but it does have soldiers who signed up to fight in wars. A few of them have changed their minds about fighting. They have come to our country to escape going to jail for this change of mind. Our government wishes to send them back to the United States to face certain prosecution. That does not seem right. They are good people, mothers and fathers, good workers and community helpers. They sincerely had set out to do what was right and still do.
Freedom is an ironic treasure. We have to fight to keep it, yet to be truly free; we must be able to choose not to fight when we believe in our hearts that the fight we are in is wrong. If we believe in freedom, we should stand up for the American soldiers who are seeking asylum in our country.
There are many former American military service men and women who have become our neighbours in all parts of Canada. We are so busy, we’re trying to make a living and raise our families but if we could take a minute to help these neighbours by writing a letter to our Member of Parliament asking to let them stay in our country, we could make a great difference for these souls.
It would be the right thing to do.
Heino Molls is publisher of REM. Email [email protected].
