Dear Oscar, count on our prayers. God is the best ally in these cases, and we trust Him. Everything will be alright.
Be strong. Best regards.
Estimado Oscar, cuente con nuestras oraciones. Dios es el mejor aliado en estos casos, y confiamos en Él y en que todo le saldrá bien.
Fuerza y saludos cordiales.
Elmer González
Please reconsider Oscar Vigil’s situation. It is not right to condemn a person for violence when not violence has been committed. This goes against law order and good government and is not how Canadians wish their government to act.
I appreciate your consideration of the matter. Use your God given good sense.
Marilyn MacDonald
Oscar Vigil is another immigrant who is being affected by unreasonable decisions by immigration officers. Join us in support of The Vigil Campaign.
To the Vigil family: Please receive all our solidarity, and our commitment to share with you what we have learned in the struggle against a deportation order. Be strong brother, sooner or later we will be able to achieve justice!
Oscar Vigil es otro inmigrante afectado por decisiones irracionales hechas por oficiales de inmigracion. Hagamos un solo nudo en solidaridad con la Campaña Vigil Campaign.
A la familia Vigil: Recibe nuestra solidaridad y compromiso de compartir lo que hemos aprendido en nuestra lucha contra la orden de deportacion.
¡Fuerza hermano que muy pronto lograremos justicia!
Jose Figueroa
www.wearejose.org
My friend, activist and journalist Oscar Vigil is being threatened y the Harper gov’t with deportation. Proud to support him, ashamed that I need to. Learn more: http://vigilcampaign.ca/
Joe Mihevc
My friend Oscar Vigil, a colleague journalist from El Salvador who has been in Toronto for 12 years, has been informed that his refugee claim has been denied. Very few times I have met a fellow Hispanic immigrant who has made so many contributions to this country. Please like his page to support him!
Mi amigo Oscar, colega periodista de El Salvador, quien ha vivido en Toronto desde hace 12 años, ha sido informado que debe retornar a su país debido a que se le negó su petición de refugio. Pocas veces he conocido a otro miembro de la comunidad inmigrante Hispana que haya realizado tantas contribuciones a este país. ¡Dale “like” a su página para apoyarlo!
Monica Belluso Gonzalez Kimmel
My name is Hector Sermeño a Salvadoran journalist, based in NYC. I was also in the situation of Oscar in 2001 and I returned to El Salvador, where I could not live one more year. The situation was so difficult to carry on there, especially when one has had problems with the police because of the journalistic work. Things have gotten worse now, because there is a high percentage of police officers linked to common crime and also organized crime.
For all this I think it is completely unfair that Canadian immigration, a country that has always been known for helping migrants worldwide, denied a person like Oscar Vigil to live and work there. He’s such as a great person and a well recognized professional in the journalistic field. I know Oscar pretty well, I used to work with him, both in El Salvador, as in Toronto. I know him as a person and as a professional too. I’m completely sure he and his family deserves to have a peaceful life in any place out of El Salvador.
What a shame, how it has changed Canada!
Hector Sermeño
Greetings Oscar: I am very sorry to hear that the rigid Canadian immigration system is concluding that you are inadmissibility to Canada after 12 years of living here. I have known you through all these years in our interactions as active members of the Hispanic community. Certainly, from the perspective of your record living and contributing to Canada’s vibrant community, I think you deserve to be allowed to live in Canada as any other member of our society without any restrictions. Hence, I am expressing my support to that Campaign looking for a stay of your inadmissibility case.
Best regards,
Eduardo Garay | EGaray Consulting Services
Background
Oscar, his spouse Carolina, and their three children came to Canada in 2001. They have been here ever since.
Oscar was found to be inadmissible under Section 34(1)(f) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA). This section states that a person is inadmissible to Canada if s/he has ever been a member of an organization that has engaged in terrorism.
Oscar was a member of the FMLN which is currently the democratically elected government of El Salvador. Much like Nelson Mandella’s ANC in South Africa, the FMLN was an armed opposition prior to the Peace Accord in El Salvador. Although Oscar himself has never participated in any violent activities of any sort, the Canadian government says that Oscar was a member of a group that once engaged in terrorism.
As a result, the Canadian government denied Oscar his right to a refugee hearing. This led to the three separate legal applications that are described below.
Oscar Vigil, on the right, during the citizenship ceremony of his family, on January 2014
Oscar Vigil is a loving husband, a caring father, and valued member of the community. He is also a refugee claimant from El Salvador. Fearing for their safety, he fled his country in 2001 with his spouse Carolina, and their three children and came to Canada.They had received death threats as a result of their work as journalists.
Since then, his wife, their son and 2 daughters were granted refugee status, became permanent residents and now they all are Canadian citizens.
Now, Oscar has been denied refugee status and is being threatened with deportation back to El Salvador.