Results tagged “veterans”

The TTC will join individuals and communities across the nation in marking Remembrance Day by halting all of its vehicles for two minutes at 11 a.m. today. Subways will be held at platforms, buses and streetcars will remain at the nearest regular stop they hit just prior to 11 a.m., and Wheel-Trans vehicles will pull over. Regular service will resume as soon as the two minute pause has elapsed. Though this is a fairly common way for transit services to honour the moment—the TTC told Torontoist yesterday that they have been doing this for years—the TTC's stoppage tends to fly under the radar, and is not, perhaps, quite as well known as it could or should be. Should you be riding in, waiting for, or stuck behind a TTC vehicle at 11 a.m. this morning, please be patient: the two minutes in question are for a very good cause. In addition, veterans will be able to travel for free today on Toronto, Mississauga, York, and Durham transit services.

                 

On September 23, war resister Jeremy Hinzman—who has spent four and a half years living and working in Canada as a conscientious objector—is due to be deported back to the United States where he faces a dishonorable discharge, court martial, and sentence in a military prison, the equivalent of a felony record. A protest was held by the War Resister Support Campaign (WRSC) in Toronto and other cities across the country Saturday to rally support and raise awareness that the government continues to deport war resisters despite, as we previously reported, public and Parliamentary support for them to stay.

To Corey Glass, Pierre Trudeau's Vietnam-era proclamation that "Canada should be a refuge from militarism" must ring a little hollow in 2008. Two summers ago, the 25-year-old Iraq War veteran left his post with the U.S. Army, resisting re-deployment to the catastrophic five-year occupation. Since August of 2006, Mr. Glass, like others seeking refugee status, has been a resident of Toronto, calling the Parkdale community home. This week, with his bags packed and ready, Glass was "shocked" to learn that his deportation order—due to expire today—was stayed, granting him temporary refuge in Canada.