On Jan. 26, antiwar activists and military families held vigils across Canada and the US to demand that the Canadian government grant sanctuary to US soldiers who have entered the country to avoid serving in Iraq. Since the occupation began five years ago, hundreds of US soldiers have gone to Canada to avoid deployment.

The vigils, held in over a dozen US and Canadian cities, were organized by the War Resisters Support Campaign in Canada and the US-based organization Courage To Resist (couragetoresist.org). In Seattle, a delegation from the group Safe Haven met with the Canadian Consul to deliver a letter requesting sanctuary for US war resisters. According to Safe Haven many US soldiers have crossed the border between the state of Washington and British Columbia. After the Refugee Board and the Supreme Court of Canada refused to grant refugee status to any of the war resisters, some of the soldiers were being threatened with deportation back to the US where they face military charges and imprisonment.

Last month the Canadian Parliament's Standing Committee on Citizenship voted in favor of legislation which would halt deportation proceedings against the US soldiers. If the House of Commons in Canada approves the measure, special provisions in the law would allow them to immigrate to Canada. --Mark Taylor-Canfield

Also on Jan. 26, the organization World Can't Wait called for national non-violent resistance against the Bush administration. Demonstrations were held across the country in New York City, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Washington, DC. Protesters demanded an end to the use of torture by the US government against detainees and an immediate end to the occupation of Iraq. Speakers called for impeachment and criminal charges against President George W. Bush and Vice-President Dick Cheney for war crimes.

In Seattle, protesters gathered at the Homeland Security office in Tukwila. Other demos were held in cities around the nation at federal buildings, courthouses, military recruiting centers, FEMA offices, and immigration detention centers. Organizers urged people to wear orange armbands, drop orange banners and display orange signs in local businesses as symbols of support for the demonstrations.

After the events, on Indymedia websites across the country, participants and organizers admitted that they had hoped for a larger turnout but they are gearing up for national mass marches against the occupation of Iraq during the anniversary of the original US invasion during the first week of March. --M.T.-C.

Meanwhile, a very prestigious polling group in the United Kingdom, the British Opinion Research Business (ORB), reports that over one million Iraqis have died as a result of the US occupation and sectarian fighting. One fifth of all Iraqi households have experienced the death of a loved one as a result of the war. The British researchers explained that the number of Iraqi deaths may actually be higher because their surveyors were unable to gain access to the most violent and destabilized provinces of Kerbala and Anbar. --M.T.-C.