Category Archives: Oscar Vigil

Judge’s ruling may help Oscar Vigil stay in Canada

By Oakland Ross, Toronto Star. Published on July 23, 2014

A recent Federal Court ruling spells potential good news for two men who face deportation from Canada as “terrorists” because they once supported a rebel organization that is now the democratically elected government of their former land.

“I think it’s very helpful,” said Lorne Waldman, a Toronto immigration lawyer representing Oscar Vigil, the former executive director of the Canadian Hispanic Congress. Vigil has been declared “inadmissible” to Canada over his ties to the leftist Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front that now governs El Salvador.

Waldman was referring to a ruling handed down this month by Federal Court Justice Richard G. Mosley, ordering the Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration to take a second look at a case involving another Salvadoran man who has also been deemed inadmissible to Canada, for reasons very similar to those affecting Vigil.

Mosley aimed some harsh language at Karine Roy-Tremblay, a senior bureaucrat in the Immigration Ministry, who in March 2013 denied an application by Jose Luis Figueroa of Vancouver to be allowed to remain in Canada on compassionate grounds.

In his ruling, Mosley used words such as “unreasonable,” “facile,” and “simply not good enough” to describe Roy-Tremblay’s decision. He also rejected her description of the FMLN as a terrorist organization and dismissed her conclusion that Figueroa poses a security risk to Canadians.

Continue reading in The Toronto Star »

United and determined in a great solidarity night

By Gilberto Rogel

Toronto.- Over a hundred community activists, political leaders, artists and the public of many Latin American countries and Canada, joined together this Saturday June 7 at a solidarity night to express their full support to the cause of the Salvadoran journalist Oscar Vigil, who is fighting, perhaps, the strongest and most complicated personal battle to stay in Canada and show the Federal Government its error in declaring him an inadmissible person living in the country.

“I am here to support the cause of Oscar. We need to let our authorities (Immigration) know that it is not possible that a hardworking man and father like Oscar can be treated as a terrorist. The authorities should not believe he was doing anything other than his job, because I am one who believes that the family must stay together if we want a better society,” said Jose Toribio, poet and activist member of the Dominican Republican community, who, with over 20 years living in Canada, cannot understand the decision of the Immigration authorities.

Together with Jose Toribio, many well-known politicians also showed up to confirm their commitment to the cause. Andrew Cash, Member of the Parliament for the New Democratic Party (NDP) representing the riding of Davenport (Toronto), was one of the first to arrive at Mingles Lounge, the place of celebration.

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“In Canada’s immigration law, anyone can be a terrorist”

By Oakland Ross, Toronto Star. Published on April 27, 2014

One elderly woman’s only political act was to stitch together uniforms for armed rebels in Ethiopia, then ruled by a murderous tyrant named Haile Mariam Mengistu.

Another man, now in his 60s, once donated the equivalent of $50 to the militant opposition in his country.

Yet another man used to act as an informal contact for foreign journalists who were seeking interviews with anti-government guerrillas in El Salvador.

None of these three people ever engaged in political violence themselves, and yet all of them – along with dozens and perhaps hundreds of others – face the threat of deportation on the grounds that they pose a security risk to the people of Canada, under a catch-all provision of this country’s immigration law that many lawyers decry as unfair and excessive.

“It’s an extreme overreaction,” says Ontario legal-aid lawyer Andrew Brouwer. “Their stories are so compelling. There’s not a single allegation of ever being involved in any kind of violence, much less a terrorist act.”

Continue reading in The Toronto Star »

Help Oscar by signing the petition online

SIGN THE PETITION ONLINEWe want to thank you all of for downloading and signing our mail petition to help Oscar Vigil to stay with his family in Canada. You still can do it here. But we need more signatures, and the Internet can help us. It is faster and easier. So we posted an online petition that you can also sign and share. Please visit the following link if you are interested:

Allow Oscar Vigil to stay with his Canadian family in Canada »

This is the text of the petition:

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Oscar Vigil, interviewed in CBC Radio: “They are going to break my family”

“They are going to break my family.” Oscar Vigil has built a reputation as a leader of the Hispanic community in Canada. Earlier this year, his wife and grown children became Canadian citizens. But, according to the Canadian government, because of his cooperation with revolutionary forces during El Salvador’s lengthy civil war, Mr. Vigil could be deported very soon.

It’s worth noting that El Salvador’s former revolutionaries now make up the country’s duly-elected government — and maintain full diplomatic relations with Canada.

Carol Off spoke with Oscar Vigil and his lawyer, Stephen Foster, in As It Happens, the long-running interview show on CBC Radio One.

Click here to hear the interview »

MP Andrew Cash urges Government to reverse deportation of Oscar Vigil

MP for Davenport Andrew Cash

MP for Davenport Andrew Cash

This Wednesday, NDP MP for Davenport Andrew Cash asked the Conservative government to overturn a removal order for Oscar Vigil.

Oscar Vigil is a journalist from El Salvador who fled death threats and sought refugee status in Canada in 2001. His wife and three children have since been accepted by Canada’s immigrations services and have become Canadian citizens, but Vigil has been denied.

“The role of the Minister for Immigration should be to protect families, not break them up,” Andrew Cash asked in the House of Commons, “The Minister has the authority to reverse this deportation and keep this family together, will he do so?”

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Article in ‘The Toronto Star’: “Salvadoran journalist faces ‘unfair’ deportation”

By Oakland Ross, Toronto Star. Published on March 31, 2014

A leading member of Canada’s Hispanic community faces deportation and the probable breakup of his family because he once acted as an informal liaison arranging contacts between armed rebels and foreign journalists covering the civil war that convulsed El Salvador during the 1980s.

“I think this is extremely unfair,” said Vilma Filici, former president of the Canadian Hispanic Congress, referring to the impending deportation of reporter and community activist Oscar Vigil, 48.

“Oscar is an incredible human being. He has done an incredible amount of work on behalf of the Latin community. He is not a danger to the public. He’s an asset to Canada.”

Vigil, who has been in Canada for more than a decade, has been ordered to leave as soon as the Salvadoran consulate in Toronto can issue him a passport. He has no Canadian travel documents.

Following a series of unsuccessful appeals, the final decision to deport Vigil was taken by Citizenship and Immigration Canada this past February, even though it will almost certainly result in the breakup of his family.

Continue reading in The Toronto Star »

Hope, justice and the support of many friends: the Vigil Campaign is underway

Michelle Millard and Francisco Rico

Michelle Millard and Francisco Rico

By Rebeka Lauks

On March 24th, 2014, Francisco Rico-Martinez of the FCJ Refugee Centre and Michelle Millard of York University welcomed over 100 individuals to the official launch of the Vigil Campaign at the Church of the Holy Trinity. The Vigil Campaign has come together in support of Oscar Vigil, a loving husband, caring father, and valued member of the community.

Oscar and his family came to Canada in 2001 seeking refugee protection. While his wife and three children have all now received Canadian citizenship, Oscar has spent the last 13 years in legal status limbo and is now being threatened with deportation back to El Salvador. It is for this reason that the Vigil Campaign is presently mobilizing to increase public support for his case and to pressure the Minister to grant relief to Oscar so that he may remain in Canada with his family.

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