War resister Kimberly Rivera, the first female Iraq war resister from the U.S. to come to Canada, has been ordered deported.
Rivera, along with her husband and their three young children, must leave the country by January 27 or they will be forcibly removed.
Rivera served in Iraq in 2006 but fled to Canada in 2007 after refusing redeployment.
"After a huge awakening in the lives of civilians who don't get to escape the trauma or the pain and loss of people they love, I was seeing the truth and it wasn't what we'd been led to believe," Rivera said in a press release Wednesday from the group War Resisters Support Campaign.
"My goal is to find a better future for my kids. Coming to Canada gave my family opportunities and hope."
Rivera just gave birth to her youngest daughter Katie six weeks ago.
The family's Pre-Removal Risk Assessment (PRRA) applications and requests to stay in Canada on humanitarian and compassionate grounds were both rejected.
"During the last election, Prime Minister Stephen Harper acknowledged that the Iraq war was 'absolutely an error,' but he has so far refused to support the troops who have come to the same conclusion," Lee Zaslofksy, spokesperson for the War Resisters Support Campaign, said Wednesday.
The WRSC says four other war resisters and their families face deportation in January.
The group accused Immigration Minister Jason Kenney of trying to rush the deportations to avoid growing public pressure once Parliament resumes later this month.
The WRSC wants the Conservatives to implement a motion adopted by Parliament last June, which recommended that "conscientious objectors" to wars not sanctioned by the UN be allowed to stay in Canada and apply for permanent resident status.
With files from The Canadian Press
