VANCOUVER — Russell Long, a pony-tailed, dreadlocks guy, was sitting in a park with some friends this week in beautiful downtown Nelson when the local constabulary came calling.
Nelson police chief Dan Maluta, who has agreed to an outside investigation of why the boxer-clad Mr. Snyder was arrested, denied that local police were singling out war resisters, as the deserters call themselves.
He said a police officer approached Mr. Long and his friends on suspicion that they were smoking marijuana. A check disclosed that Mr. Long was wanted on an outstanding immigration warrant, and he was taken into custody. “This wasn't specific targeting. This was old-fashioned police work,” Chief Maluta told reporters.
No deserters have succeeded with a refugee claim so far, although the issue has now gone to the Supreme Court of Canada for a final ruling. |