Speaking at Out Way Home Vancouver Peace Event and Reunion, a peace conference honouring woman war resisters that came to Canada, is US Colonel and diplomat Ann Wright. She was allowed into Canada this time but has been refused entry in the past.Photograph by: Ian Smith, Vancouver Sun
WINDSOR, Ont. — A prominent U.S. peace activist who has previously been refused entry to Canada crossed the border into Windsor Monday afternoon after three hours of questioning by Canadian border agents."I guess they didn't find my offences so offensive," joked Ann Wright shortly after emerging from the tunnel into Windsor.The 63-year-old former U.S. army corporal was denied access to Canada three times in recent years after Canadian immigration agents noticed her name on an FBI watch list.Wright has been arrested several times in the U.S. during protests against the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. During one protest, she was arrested in front of the White House for refusing to move when police instructed her to leave. On another occasion, Wright was arrested after standing up during a congressional hearing to shout, "Stop the war." She said her participation in the protests has always been "peaceful and non-violent."Though her criminal history includes only misdemeanours, Wright said her name was placed on a list of citizens who had committed federal felonies.The resident of Honolulu, Hawaii, served in the U.S. army for 29 years, including 13 on active duty. After she retired, she served as a member of the U.S. diplomatic corps, but resigned from that position in 2003 in opposition to the war in Iraq.She will speak at the University of Toronto on Tuesday to share her thoughts on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and on war resisters in Canada."I'm strongly opposed to the wars and I think it's important to speak out. If we don't, the government won't know the feelings of citizens."A spokesman for Code Pink Toronto, one of the organizations sponsoring Wright's presentation, said Wright chose the Windsor-Detroit border crossing because she had received letters of support from local MPs Joe Comartin and Brian Masse.© Copyright (c) Canwest News Service
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