Canada Working Out Kinks on Deserter Policies?

Another American Army deserter has been ordered home from Canada. Sergeant Patrick Brendan Hart, 34, who fled to Canada four years ago, has been told that he and his family do not qualify for amnesty under our northern neighbor's Pre-Removal Risk Assessment program. In other words, Canada does not believe Hart will be suspended upside down from high buildings or otherwise tortured if he returns to the United States. This is different from Canada's position on the Jeremy Hinzman case, in which another U.S. Army deserter was granted a temporary deportation stay on the grounds that he would be waterboarded or what-have-you back home. Sounds as if Canada is trying to update its policies on when/how to accomodate our AWOL servicemembers. Keep your eyes trained northward on this one. Hart is a two-time volunteer who enlisted out of high school, served his full term, and re-enlisted five years later. He deserted the U.S. military before his second deployment to Iraq because he said he believes the military presence there is “illegal and unnecessary.”