Man granted Canadian 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.