[BRIEF NOTE] Here, there

I've been thinking about how, or if, to react to an unsettling news story that came out earlier this month, "U.S. deserter could qualify as refugee: court".

An American war deserter could have a valid claim for refugee status in Canada, the Federal Court ruled on Friday.

In a decision that may have an impact on dozens of refugee claimants in Canada, Federal Court Justice Robert Barnes said Canada's refugee board erred by rejecting the asylum bid of Joshua Key. He ordered that a new panel reconsider the application.

Key was sent to Iraq in 2003 as a combat engineer for eight months where he said he was responsible for nighttime raids on private Iraqi homes, which included searching for weapons.

He alleged that during his time in Iraq he witnessed several cases of abuse, humiliation, and looting by the U.S. army.

When Key was back in the U.S on a two-week leave, he said he was suffering from debilitating nightmares and that he couldn't return. A military lawyer told him that he could either return to Iraq or face prison.

Instead, Key took his family to Canada and applied for refugee status.

While the immigration board concluded that some of the alleged conduct by the U.S military included a "disturbing level of brutality," it said the conduct did not meet the definition of a war crime or a crime against humanity.

Barnes said the board erred "by concluding that refugee protection for military deserters and evaders is only available where the conduct objected to amounts to a war crime, a crime against peace or a crime against humanity."

Citing a case from the U.S. Federal Court of Appeal, Barnes said officially condoned military misconduct could still support a refugee claim, even if it falls short of a war crime.

"The authorities indicate that military action which systematically degrades, abuses or humiliates either combatants or non-combatants is capable of supporting a refugee claim where that is the proven reason for refusing to serve," Barnes wrote.

As The Globe and Mail's Tu Thanh Ha points out, this decision is strictly limited in scope to a select minority of deserters.

The ruling is one of the first in favour of U.S. soldiers who fled to Canada, following the failure last year of deserters Jeremy Hinzman and Brandon Hughey to persuade Canadian courts that they would be unfairly treated if they are court-martialed in the United States.

"While the Hinzman decision has certainly set the bar very high for deserters from the United States military," Judge Barnes wrote, it would still be possible for a deserter to prove he had tried all avenues to evade overseas duty or unfair punishment in the United States.

Having deserted while he was on furlough, "Private Key would have been deployed back to Iraq within two weeks of his arrival in the United States, the opportunity to pursue a release or re-assignment may not have been realistic," Judge Barnes wrote.

A bid for asylum, it should be noted, is a far cry from actually receiving asylum. It still unsettles me that the possibility of a successful bid for asylum by an American soldier exists and--aszibblsnrt says in the comments--be taken seriously, almost as much as I am by (say) Canada's own record in regards to casual military atrocities. (The name of the victim in Canada's own Abu Ghraib photos is Shidane Arone.)

[URBAN NOTE] My Toronto Island Lessons

Late in the afternoon and early in the evening, I was spending my time on the Toronto Islands (City of Toronto page, Wikipedia). They're beautiful, a direct consequence of the will of the inhabitants and of the City of Toronto to maintain the culture and the ecology of islands that, frankly, would have been washed into the sea by now if not for pretty extensive engineering undergirded--as I wrote 2005 and 2006--by sophisticated planning at every level.

As I discovered for myself today, sophisticated planning is also required for visitors like myself. Below are some of the lessons, both positive and negative, that I learned on my very, very brief wanderjahre.

• Do remember that it can take at least an hour for me to get to the islands from where I live.


• Do make sure that you bring, for lunch, foods that don't have to remain hot.


• Do be thankful that as you're boarding the ferries (City of Toronto page, Wikipedia) that you had the good sense to bring enough cash to pay the $C6.50 toll for adults because their credit and debit machines were down.


• Do make sure that you visit in the late afternoon and early evening, when things are at their warmest.


• Do not stare disbelievingly at the obnoxious and obviously gay guy on the ferry, one bike away, who is expostulating on how God must be a lesbian because She keeps rain from falling on the Pride parade but drenches the lesbians' Dyke March so they can enjoy a wet T-shirt contest.


• Do not, when you're taking pictures and wearing white shorts, sprawl on the grass.


• With regards to sunscreen, do remember to put it on 15-30 minutes before you get on the beach and try not to squirt the bottle so hard that sunscreen gets everywhere.


• Do not take a beach towel that's too short for you--lower legs and feet don't like too much heat.


• Do keep in mind the facts that sand is magnetically attracted to welcome in the same way that cottonwood seeds and the odd feather are attracted to someone covered in sunscreen.


• Do remember that Lake Ontario is still somewhat cold even in July, as befitting its glacial origins.


• Do remember to bring a camera, next time, that lets you take more, much more, than a dozen photos.

In case you're wondering, it was a wonderful trip. Pictures will be up in the not-too-distant-at-all future.