Down in the basement of a typically plush Toronto public library, residents from the Davenport Neighbors for Peace group, several US soldiers that had jacked in active service and their partners gathered to sketch plans for their fight for sanctuary. A palpable disappointment dripped - really this was a meeting borne from desperation, some weeks prior the Canadian Supreme Court had rejected refugee status for American troops refusing to serve in Iraq.

One of those present, Kim Rivera, a red head in her early twenties, served in an Artillery unit in Baghdad from August 2006. Not long there she'd hear tales of gore, IED's and guts through the combat zone grapevine. It wasn't the "gory part of war" that changed her mind on the mission but the dehumanisation of Iraqi workers forced to etch out employment inside military compounds.

"We checked the vehicles, the civilian personal for things they couldn't have, like audio players. Things you take for granted every day."