A sample letter is included below to send to Minister of Public Safety Vic Toews and Minister of Citizenship and Immigration Jason Kenney.

Please copy Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Minister of State of Foreign Affairs (Americas) Peter Kent, and the relevant critics of all three opposition parties.

All their email addresses are after the letter.  Please also include your own MP, whose contact information you can find here.

SAMPLE LETTER BELOW (add your name and postal code at the end, with or without editing at your discretion):

Dear Ministers:

I am writing out of grave concern for the case of Mr. Jose Figueroa, a Salvadorean refugee claimant and married father of three Canadian-born children, who has been ordered deported by the Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB) due to his past affiliation with the Farabundo Marti Front for National Liberation (FMLN), currently the governing political party in El Salvador. It is especially troubling that the IRB based its ruling on the Canadian Border Security Agency’s (CBSA) assessment that the FMLN “is or was engaged in terrorism and/or subversion” and on coinciding legal arguments from the Ministry of Public Safety.

The IRB’s decision, the CBSA’s assessment, and the role played by the Ministry of Public Safety in securing Mr. Figueroa’s deportation are shocking, particularly to the many Canadians of Salvadorean origin with past and/or current ties to the FMLN.

During El Salvador’s 12-year civil war, the FMLN insurgency was internationally recognized as legitimate and representative, as per the joint declaration by the French and Mexican governments in 1981. At the time, the FMLN was a broad coalition of opposition forces which struggled against a murderous Salvadorean government and military that targeted their own civilian population, violated human rights with impunity, and sustained entrenched socio-economic injustice. In 1992, peace and democracy came to El Salvador precisely because of the FMLN’s dogged resistance, which ultimately forced the U.S. financed Salvadorean government to negotiate an end to hostilities.

Since then, the FMLN has participated in elections at all levels and has steadily become the country’s leading political force. Since 2006, the FMLN has had the most seats of all parties in the Salvadorean Legislative Assembly and has governed more than half of the Salvadorean population at the municipal level. And on March 15, 2009, Salvadoreans elected FMLN candidate Mauricio Funes as their President, a historic moment for Salvadoreans everywhere. Indeed, the Canadian government recognized that election process as “free and fair,” and was represented by Minister of State of Foreign Affairs Peter Kent during President Funes’ inauguration on June 1, 2009.

In addition, the Canadian government is negotiating a Free Trade Agreement with the government of El Salvador (though little is known by Canadians of these negotiations) and just a few months ago hosted an ‘Ethics and Democracy Conference’ in the Salvadorean capital, with President Funes’ participation, no less!

Given all this, how can Canadian authorities conclude that a person is inadmissible to Canada simply for having been affiliated with the FMLN? Should he be deported, Mr. Figueroa will be forced to uproot his family, including his Canadian-born children, despite by all accounts having contributed positively to his Canadian community for over 13 years.

I urge you to intervene in Mr. Figueroa’s case to reverse his deportation order and to allow him and his family to continue leading productive lives in their Langley, B.C. home. Furthermore, I urge you to address the glaring policy gap this case has brought to light and ensure that the FMLN is clearly and categorically recognized by your Ministries, the Immigration and Refugee Board, and the Canadian Border Security Agency as the legitimate and representative political entity it has been since its inception 30 years ago. Correcting what has happened to Mr. Figueroa and preventing it from happening to others ever again is of serious concern to me and Canadians across the country, especially those of Salvadorean origin.

Thank you for your time, and I look forward to your prompt follow-up to my requests.

Yours respectfully,

Your name here

Your postal code here

Email addresses:

Ministers: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ; This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

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Please also include your own MP, whose contact information you can find here.

Please also send a copy of your letter to Mr. Figueroa’s church who is supporting his legal campaign ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ) and to Barrio Nuevo ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ).