Free Republic

Peace activists have rebuilt an "underground railroad" into Canada, where thousands of Americans dodged the Vietnam war draft, to help United States soldiers flee duty in Iraq. While the number of fugitives fleeing from US duty to Canada has only been a trickle, at least two US deserters have been taken in by Quaker families in Ontario. Several other US soldiers are thought to be in Canada, after going absent without leave (AWOL) from their units. Sarah Bjorknas, 34, a library clerk from Vancouver, was recruited into the peace movement by a Utah academic worried the US Government may heed...

Paul Martin and Stephen Harper are a couple of leaders who have a lot going for them. Bright, policy-oriented, known to have interesting ideas on the key issues de jour. Free-minded thinkers who challenged conventional wisdom, reaching beyond the box to blow the odd cobweb from mustier corners of public policy. Both are fiscally responsible politicians who see balanced budgets as essential foundations of good governance, the absence of which compromises both economic and social progress. Normally, political leaders with such positive qualities might try to put them on public display in the days before an imminent election call. But,...

Estimates about the number of Muslims living in Canada range from 600,000 to about a million. Because of Canada's liberal immigration policy, many more Muslims arrive each year. Yet, just as in Europe, Muslims in Canada are not assimilating. Instead, they prefer their own culture and values to that of the West. The most recent example of this lack of assimilation is the institution of Muslim courts in the province of Ontario. The origin of these Islamic courts lies in a 1991 Ontario law that permits arbitration according to religious principles. Although these Islamic courts do not deal with criminal...