Deporting EX- SLA Members is Wrong
National Post -Canada 14.12.04
I was shocked to learn from the letter to the editor of the Canadian Lebanese Human Rights Federation that Canada is deporting ex-SLA members back to Lebanon. These Christian Lebanese were fighting for a free Lebanon - free from the occupation of Lebanon by Syria and free to be the liberal democracy that existed prior to Lebanon's civil war.
There are two reasons for accepting them into Canada. First, sending them back to Lebanon, now under the thumb of Syria, a totalitarian state, is virtually a death sentence. Secondly, and more importantly, these people are willing to fight for democracy and for an accepting society - the kind we have in Canada now, and the kind that Lebanon had before the civil war.
Ex-SLA members have the same values of freedom and democracy as Canadians. They will make excellent Canadian citizens and should be welcomed here.
Jonathan Usher
12 otter Cr
Toronto, Ontario
M5N2W2