Military News - Military Times

Another deserter ordered to leave Canada

TORONTO — Another U.S. war resister has been ordered to leave Canada with his family after living in Toronto for the past four years.

Sgt. Patrick Brendan Hart, 34, was informed that he and his family do not qualify under the Pre-Removal Risk Assessment program.

The program requires that people will not be deported if it would put them in danger or where they would face the risk of persecution.

Their request to stay in Canada on humanitarian and compassionate grounds was also turned down.

Hart left the U.S. military before his second deployment in Iraq because he said he believes the military occupation in that country is “illegal and unnecessary.”

“When I was deployed in 2003, I was hearing a lot of stories that made me disgusted to be an American soldier,” said Hart.

He and his wife, Jill, and their 6-year-old son Rian, who has epilepsy, will be deported to the U.S. on Oct. 30, although he plans to appeal the decision.

“It’s tragic, but we expected this,” said Jill Hart.“I always say they can break our heart but can’t break our spirit.”

Jill Hart alleges she was physically threatened by a U.S. soldier in her garage in August 2005, after her husband’s desertion.

According to the court documents, Hart first volunteered for the Army in May 1992, after graduating from high school. He received an honorable discharge in 1995. But in May 2000, he once again joined the Army and was sent to Fort Riley, Kan.

After the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, he said he decided to go to Iraq to protect the U.S. from foreign attack.

Two other war resisters — Corey Glass and Jeremy Hinzman — were both ordered to leave Canada earlier this year, although the Federal Court stayed their removal orders pending appeals.

Glass has been granted an appeal and Hinzman will hear soon whether or not he will have an appeal heard.