UVic Bans Army Recruiters – Calls Them “War Criminals”
Via Facebook [most of the quotes come from this issue of the U.Vic. Student Paper]:
The University of Victoria Student Society recently banned Canadian military recruiters from it’s annual career fair, alleging that Canadian Armed Forces have committed war crimes and other atrocities in Afghanistan.
Some notable quotes by members of the UVSS :
Tim Fournier from Students Against War spoke against the Canadian military recruiting on campus. He agreed that any law-abiding group should be allowed on campus, but argued the military committed illegal acts.
“Canada has signed on to the Geneva Convention. It’s ratified these. It’s a customary law which means that it’s part of our legal framework,” Fournier said. “We’re violating those laws, and it doesn’t take a legal expert to figure that out.”
Fournier accused the military of being dishonest, saying the Canadian Armed Forces use depleted uranium, which has been linked to cancer. The website of the Department of National Defence said that the Armed Forces haven’t carried depleted uranium since 1998.
“They are liars,” Fournier said. “They do not tell the truth, and they manipulate us.”
Scott Garnett, a student in the gallery, challenged Fournier’s assertion that the Canadian military is guilty of war crimes.
“Has anybody in the Canadian military been convicted of war crimes?” Garnett asked.
“They don’t tell us,” replied Fournier, who said Afghans under the supervision of the Canadian military were tortured. “Convicted or not, torturing people is a war crime.”
Director-at-large Christine Comrie said it was important to ban the military from recruiting because some students are ignorant about the issues.
“A lot of students don’t know about the issues and don’t know about the facts,” she said. “We have to make this decision for students.”
NB – The original story from the UVic Martlett had the wrong name for Mr. Garnett. This post has been changed to show the correct name at their request.
