Jeremy Hinzman
Jeremy Hinzman was a U.S. soldier in the elite infantry division, the 82nd Airborne. He served in Afghanistan in a non-combat position after having applied for conscientious objector status.   After being refused CO status and returning to America, he learned that they would be deployed to Iraq.
  Hinzman did not believe the stated reasons for the Iraq war. In January 2004 he drove to Canada to seek asylum. He is currently living in Toronto with his wife Nga Nguyen and son Liam. His refugee claim was turned down in March 2005 by the Immigration and Refugee Board. This decision was upheld by the Federal Court and the Federal Court of Appeal, and on November 15, 2007 the Supreme Court refused to hear his appeal.
  On July 21 2008 their daughter Meghan was born in Toronto.
  Jeremy and his family was ordered to leave Canada by September 23, 2008, or face deportation to the United States where Jeremy would be turned over to the US military to face punishment for desertion. A judicial review of this decision was denied by the Federal Court in June 2009, but on July 6, 2010, the Federal Court of Appeal, citing serious flaws with the immigration officer's decision, ruled in favour of Jeremy and ordered a review of his application to stay on Humanitarian and Compassionate grounds.

Clifford Cornell
Cliff Cornell, from Arkansas, was stationed at Fort Stewart, Georgia. He joined the Army with the promise from a military recruiter that he would receive a $9,000 sign up bonus and job training.
   “Ninety per cent of what the recruiters tell you is a pack of lies,” said Cliff. Army recruitment techniques amount to entrapment, targeting young men from poor families, said Cornell. His unit was to be deployed to Iraq just after Christmas. On January 8 2005, Cliff arrived in Toronto seeking asylum. He lived in British Columbia until the Canadian government ordered him to leave the country. On February 4, 2009, Cliff crossed into the U.S. and was arrested at the border by U.S. authorities. Cliff was sentenced to one year in military prison. He was released in February 2010.

Ryan Johnson
Ryan Johnson crossed the border into Canada with his wife Jenna in June 2005. They spent a month crossing the U.S. from California to the Rainbow Bridge in Niagara Falls. Ryan went AWOL in January 2005 because of personal and political beliefs.
  He and Jenna spent time with the San Diego Military Counseling Project and attended the court martial for Pablo Paredes, who refused deployment to Iraq.
  The day after he arrived in Canada, Ryan told Democracy Now!. "We found Jeremy Hinzman's site before I went AWOL. And one of our first thoughts was to go to Canada, and we found the G.I. Rights hotline, and we were looking at that. Then we found stuff on Camilo Mejia, Aidan Delgado, and it kind of inspired me that people were doing this. It let me know that there were other people like me that were't wanting to go to war, and that there's people trying to get it out there to soldiers and civilians alike, letting them know that they're not the only ones that don't believe in it."

Robin Long
Robin Long is from Boise, Idaho. He received orders in March 2005 to report to Iraq and meet up with his new unit 2-2 IN in May. "I still don't think that Bush has proven we have any reason to be over there, and I would be wrong to be a tool of destruction," Robin says.
 He served two years as a tanker in the US army, at Fort Knox before he left and came to Canada in June of 2005. He traveled by hitchhiking from Tofino, BC to St. John's, Newfoundland, and as far north as the north shore of the St. Lawrence during the summer months. "I have really enjoyed this beautiful country, I'm reminded everyday by its wonderful people that I made the right decision. I remember that a soldier is just a uniform following orders, a warrior is the man or woman that follows their conscience and does the right thing in the face of adversity."
 He applied for refugee status in Thunder Bay. On July 15, 2008, the Canadian government deported Robin to the United States where he was arrested and court martialled for desertion. Robin was sentenced to 15 months in military prison and received a dishonorable discharge from the military. The sentence is one of the harshest handed to US Iraq war resisters.
  For more information, visit the Courage to Resist web site.
  

Christian Kjar
Christian Kjar, 21, is originally from California. Christian joined the US Marine Corps in 2004. It was not long before he found that, despite the motto of "Honour, courage, commitment"posted on the recruiting office wall "this was not the place to go if you value human dignity."
 While posted in North Carolina Christian decided he could not participate in the Iraq war. He arrived in Canada in October 2005, and currently lives in Toronto.

Corey Glass
A former sergeant in the Los Angeles California National Guard, Corey Glass arrived in Canada in August 2006. "When I joined the national guard, they told me the only way I would be in combat is if there were troops occupying the United States," Corey said.
 "I signed up to defend people and do humanitarian work filling sandbags if there was a hurricane; I should have been in New Orleans, not Iraq."

Phil McDowell
Phil McDowell is from Warwick, Rhode Island and a former SGT in the United States Army. He joined the Army in 2001 after the September 11th attacks during his senior year at Marist College, in Poughkeepsie New York, where he major ed in Information Technology. As part of the First Cavalry division he served in Iraq from March 2004 to March 2005.
 A month and a half after being discharged in June 2006 he received notification that he fell under the Army's Stop-Loss policy and was to return to his unit at Fort Hood, Texas for a second deployment to Iraq. Shortly after returning to his unit he made the decision not to take part in the illegal Iraq war and moved to Canada in October of 2006. His partner, Jamine Aponte, joined him a month later in November. They now live in Toronto where they have started their new life.

Dean Walcott
Dean Walcott joined the active duty USMC August 23 2000. Dean deployed to Iraq twice, and in between, was stationed at a US Army hospital in Stuttgart, Germany. His last command was at a non-depolyable Inspector/Instructor unit in North Carolina.
 Originally from Connecticut, Dean arrived in Toronto in December 2006 where he applied for refugee status.

Kimberly Rivera
 I, Kimberly Rivera, was assigned to the unit 2-17 Field Artillery Aug. 2006, and was shipped with my unit to Baghdad, Iraq. Despite feeling that this was the wrong thing for me and my family, I was obligated to follow orders. Me and my unit left the States on the 3rd of October 2006. While in Iraq, losing soldiers and civilians was a part of daily life. I was a gate guard. This position was the highest of security for a forward operation base, being that we searched vehicles, civilian personnel, and military convoys that left and came back every hour. After a huge awakening in the lives of the civilians who don't get to escape the trauma, or the pain and the loss of people they love, I was seeing the truth and it wasn't pretty. Seeing the war as it truly is. People losing their lives for greed of a nation, and still some people can't see the lies behind the media. The effects on the soldiers who come back with new problems such as nightmares, anxieties, depression, anger, and alcohol abuse, and missing limbs and scars from burns, and some don't come back at all. To find a better future than that is my goal for my kids. Me and my family left our little home in Mesquite, Texas and drove to Canada and crossed Rainbow Bridge on February 18th 2007. This begins a new chapter filled with new opportunities, and hope for my family. This journey has brought the title of the first female war resister in Canada. I am just glad I get to be a mom again.