OTTAWA, Oct 8, 2008 (AFP) - Another US war resister was ordered to leave Canada on Wednesday or face deportation by the end of the month, a support group said on its website.

'Iraq war resister Patrick Hart, his wife Jill and son Rian were told that they must voluntarily leave Canada or they will be deported to the United States on October 30th,' said the War Resisters Support Campaign.

Hart is a former sergeant and nine-year veteran of the US military who served in the Middle East as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

After one tour, however, he fled to Toronto in August 2005, deciding that 'he could no longer take part in the illegal and unwarranted military occupation.'

More than a dozen US war resisters are fighting uphill legal battles to stay in Canada, after the first of them was sent home and sentenced in August to 15 months in prison for desertion.

An estimated recent 200 US war resisters, none of whom has yet to secure refugee status, are currently living in this country.