Ann Wright, a former U.S. Army colonel, successfully crossed the Canadian border last week to speak against the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Wright spoke at U of T on Tuesday, March 2, along with Stuart Trew, the trade campaigner for the advocacy group Council of Canadians.
In 2007, Wright was denied entry into Canada twice because of prior arrests in the U.S. related to peaceful protests against the Iraq war. The 63-year-old had resigned from the United States Foreign Service in 2003 to protest the war. She was banned from Canada from October 2007 to September 2008.
Organizers of the event had anticipated problems and were ready to have Wright speak via a live video link if she was refused entry into Canada. Although Wright did make it across the border, it was not smooth sailing.
“There was an issue with my entering—I spent three hours in Canadian immigration answering the same questions about my misdemeanour arrests in opposition to the wars and torture that I have answered four times before—this time I got in, but it’s not over,” Wright wrote in an email.
Wright was placed on the FBI’s National Crime Information database for her actions, in what she believes to be an act of political intimidation.
At the International Student Centre Tuesday, Wright discussed the responsibility of dissent. Speaking out against government policies and protesting peacefully and non-violently, she said, led to her arrests for misdemeanour violations.
The event was organized by the Canadian Voice of Women for Peace, Council of Canadians, Code Pink, and Science for Peace.
