A first

I don't think I have ever contacted a Member of Parliament regarding a political or social issue. But there is a first for everything.

In attempting to return to Canada after suffering persecution, imprisonment, and torture in their native Iran, a family has been detained at the Hutto Detention Centre near Austin, Texas. The couple are Iranian citizens, but their son is Canadian-born, and a Canadian citizen, and is being held in a converted prison, with only an hour of schooling a day, and he and his mother are separated from his father at night. The boy is ill, suffering allergies and asthma as a result of the facility, and is losing weight due to the inedible food.

Bloggers are encouraging readers to contact Peter MacKay, Minister of Foreign Affairs regarding this family's situation. News media have published copies of the letter Kevin, the son, has written to Prime Minister Harper.

Well over 100 children and infants are held at Hutto, wearing uniforms and locked in their rooms at night.