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James Loney (peace activist)

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James Loney
Born1964 (age 59–60)
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
SpouseDan Hunt

James Loney (born 1964) is a Canadian peace activist who has worked for several years with Christian Peacemaker Teams in Iraq and Palestine. On November 26, 2005, he was kidnapped in Baghdad along with three others: Harmeet Singh Sooden (Canadian) and Norman Kember (British), both members of the delegation he was leading; and Tom Fox (American), a full-time member of CPT who had been working in Iraq since September 2004. The widely publicized hostage crisis (see Christian Peacemaker hostage crisis) ended on March 23, 2006, when Loney, Kember, and Sooden were freed in a clandestine military operation led by British Special Forces.[1][2] Tom Fox was killed on March 9,[3] two weeks before the release of the other hostages.

While Loney was held as a hostage, his family and partner Dan Hunt withheld the fact of his homosexuality out of fear for his safety. The media was aware of this fact but cooperated in keeping it secret.[4]

He made a brief media appearance on March 30: "I'll take things slowly until I can get through a day without shaking legs and a pounding heart," he said.[5]

Early life

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Loney was born in Calgary, Alberta, and was raised in Thunder Bay and Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. During his late teens, he worked as a counsellor at Columbus Boys' Camp near Orillia, Ontario, on Lake Simcoe. This was a summer camp for underprivileged boys, funded by the Knights of Columbus and staffed by senior high school students from various schools run by the Basilian Fathers until 2002, when it was sold to Stu Saunders, who turned it into a leadership camp.

Loney was a founding member of Zacchaeus House, one of several houses that were part of the Toronto Catholic Worker. From 1990 to 2001 he was a member of the Zacchaeus House community—a house of hospitality which welcomes people in need of housing.[6] While no longer an active part of the community, Zacchaues House continues to function today.[7]

After release

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In June 2006, Loney entered headlines again for joining in the protest against the controversial use of security certificates to detain foreign residents in Canada for years without charges or trial.[8]

On June 20, 2006, Loney and several other staff members of the Ontario Catholic Youth Leadership Camp held a press conference in Toronto in which they claimed the Knights of Columbus, a Catholic charitable organization, shut down the camp after learning about Loney's sexual orientation upon his return from captivity.[9] The camp re-opened the following summer under the same name but with a new director and staff. On that same day, Loney and his partner Hunt were honoured at the Toronto 2006 Pride Day Gala with the Fearless Award.[10]

According to a November 11, 2006 report in the Guelph Mercury of a speech he'd given to university students on November 9, Loney refused to wear a poppy on Remembrance Day. Loney claimed that it "says we have to be ready for the next time - vigilance."[11]

Canadian singer-songwriter, Jon Brooks, wrote two songs on Loney's CD Ours And The Shepherds in response to the controversy. Jim Loney's Prayer Part I and Jim Loney's Prayer Part II were chosen as bookends to the track-list on a CD about Canadian war stories.[12]

On December 8, 2006, Loney, Kember and Sooden publicly forgave their captors at a press conference held at St. Ethelburga's Peace Center, London, England. On this same day a year before their kidnappers had threatened to execute them.[13][14] In their joint statement of forgiveness they said, "We unconditionally forgive our captors for abducting and holding us. We have no desire to punish them," and "Should those who have been charged with holding us hostage be brought to trial and convicted, we ask that they be granted all possible leniency. We categorically lay aside any rights we may have over them."[15]

On May 23, 2007, Loney released a public statement saying that he would not be testifying against his captors who are now in U.S. custody citing the lack of transparency in Iraqi courts, the limited access to lawyers and the death penalty.

I recently informed the RCMP that I will not testify. I cannot participate in a judicial process where the prospects of a fair trial are negligible, and more crucially, where the death penalty is a possibility.[16]

Loney and Harmeet Singh Sooden were among 250 Canadians[17] who risked charges under Canada's anti-terrorism legislation in the spring of 2009 for contributing towards a plane ticket for Abousfian Abdelrazik, a Canadian man who was detained by the Sudanese government at Canada's request, tortured, imprisoned for two years without charge and then denied travel documents to return to Canada.[18] The ticket Loney helped purchase[19] exposed how the government was actively blocking his return and led to the June 2009 court ruling which forced the Canadian government to bring him home. Loney was one of 30 supporters who were on hand to welcome Abdelrazik home upon his arrival at Toronto's Pearson International Airport on June 27, 2009.[20]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Military operation frees 2 Canadian hostages in Iraq". CBC News. March 23, 2006.
  2. ^ "CTV News | Top Stories - Breaking News - Top News Headlines". Ctv.ca. 2014-05-08. Archived from the original on April 20, 2006. Retrieved 2015-09-19.
  3. ^ "US hostage in Iraq confirmed dead". BBC News. March 11, 2006. Retrieved May 5, 2010.
  4. ^ The News is Out Archived 2011-09-27 at the Wayback Machine, Antonia Zerbisias, Toronto Star, March 27, 2006
  5. ^ "Return to ordinary life, not so easy, says Loney". CBC. Retrieved 30 March 2006.
  6. ^ "NOW Magazine". Archived from the original on 2020-04-12. Retrieved 2014-01-07.
  7. ^ [1] Archived September 18, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
  8. ^ "Former Iraq hostage joins protest over security certificates". Archived from the original on 2007-08-08. Retrieved 2008-02-03.
  9. ^ [2] Archived June 29, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
  10. ^ "CTV Toronto | Breaking News - Weather, Sports and Entertainment News". Toronto.ctv.ca. Archived from the original on June 22, 2006. Retrieved 2015-09-19.
  11. ^ Helwig, David. "James Loney refuses to wear a poppy". SooToday. Retrieved 11 November 2006.
  12. ^ Wallace, Kenyon. "Jon Brooks is the fighting sort of folk". Toronto Star. Retrieved 27 April 2012.
  13. ^ "CTV News | Top Stories - Breaking News - Top News Headlines". Ctv.ca. 2014-05-08. Archived from the original on December 10, 2006. Retrieved 2015-09-19.
  14. ^ "EXCLUSIVE...Former Christian Peacemaker Teams Hostages Harmeet Singh Sooden and James Loney Remember Murdered Colleague Tom Fox and Explain Why They Forgive Their Captors". Democracy Now!. Retrieved 2015-09-19.
  15. ^ "UNITED KINGDOM: Statement by Norman Kember, James Loney, and Harmeet Singh Sooden regarding the prosecution of their kidnappers | Christian Peacemaker Teams". Cpt.org. Archived from the original on 2016-01-14. Retrieved 2015-09-19.
  16. ^ "No Future Without Forgiveness". Commondreams.org. Archived from the original on 2013-07-02. Retrieved 2009-02-03.
  17. ^ "Canadians defy law in bid to bring home one of their own". Globe & Mail. 10 April 2009.
  18. ^ Teotonio, Isabel (May 5, 2009). "Help sought for Canadian stranded in Sudan". The Star. Toronto. Retrieved May 5, 2010.
  19. ^ "People's Commission Network". Peoplescommission.org. Retrieved 2015-09-19.
  20. ^ "Abdelrazik arrives home after 6 years | CTV News". Ctv.ca. 2009-06-27. Retrieved 2015-09-19.
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