Man granted residency after years in B.C. church wants to clear name

VICTORIA -- A man who spent more than two years in a British Columbia church to avoid deportation from Canada on alleged terrorism links is asking the Federal Court to clear his name.

Jose Figueroa will be in court Wednesday in Vancouver asking it to rescind an eight-year-old report that said he was inadmissible to Canada due to his past membership in a political organization.

Before he fled to Canada in 1997 to escape death threats, Figueroa was a volunteer for the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front in El Salvador. The group brought in a new era of democracy when it was voted into power in 2009.

He also said Monday he wants a federal deportation order quashed.

Immigration Minister John McCallum granted a ministerial exemption last December that allowed Figueroa to leave the Walnut Grove Lutheran Church in Langley.

"If there is justice in this country, the Canada Border Services Agency should be found accountable for the harm that they have done to me, to my family," Figueroa told a news conference outside the University of Victoria's law faculty building.

Figueroa, who is studying law at the university, said he is now a permanent resident of Canada but wants the border services agency to erase the report on his inadmissibility and deportation orders.

"My application for permanent residency was finalized on May 12, 2016," he said. "When you are looking at the time span when the application was approved in principle in 2004, it took 14 years for immigration to actually finalize that application. That is unreasonable. My name has been tarnished by an allegation that is unfounded."

The border services agency could not immediately be reached for comment.

Figueroa said he has never been a terrorist but was a member of a university student union in El Salvador that supported the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front, which opposed the country's right-wing dictatorship in the 1980s.

"I am not a terrorist," he said. "The FLMN is not a terrorist organization. At this point we are looking for the CBSA, the Canadian government to acknowledge my rights have been violated."

Figueroa arrived in Canada in 1997 with his wife and claimed refugee status, but 13 years and three Canadian-born children later, the federal government sought his deportation.

He said the immigration battle and especially his time at the church took its toll on him and his family. He said his wife lost one of her kidneys the year before he sought sanctuary at the church, and he missed his son's graduation ceremony while he was staying there.

His petition to the federal court for a judicial review doesn't mention a damage award.

Figueroa, who is representing himself in court, said he isn't concerned about financial compensation.

"I'm for justice," he said.

Here is a timeline of his case:

1997: Figueroa and his wife flee El Salvador, fearing for their safety. They come to Canada and claim refugee status. Over the next several years, they work and have three children.

2009: The Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front is voted into power in El Salvador, ushering a new era of democracy.

May 2010: The Immigration and Refugee Board determines Figueroa cannot be admitted to Canada, arguing that he is a threat to national security because he worked with a student group that had ties to the revolutionary national liberation front in the 1980s. A deportation order is issued.

January 2011: Supporters launch a campaign called "We are Jose," encouraging the federal government to overturn the deportation order. The campaign gains support from MPs, academics, student groups, the vice-president of the Salvadoran National Assembly and actor Martin Sheen. Several successive immigration ministers refuse to grant Figueroa's application for relief.

October 2013: A warrant is issued for Figueroa's arrest and deportation, prompting him to seek sanctuary in a church in Langley, B.C.

July 2015: A Federal Court judge grants Figueroa a judicial review.

December 2015: Immigration Minister John McCallum grants Figueroa an exemption on compassionate grounds, allowing him to stay in Canada with his family. He leaves the church for the first time in more than two years on his 49th birthday.

November 2016: Figueroa plans to appear before the Federal Court and argue to have his name cleared. He says that although he is now a permanent resident in Canada, the border services agency still has a deportation order against him and an eight-year-old report alleging he has links to terrorism.