Jose Figueroa is a Salvadoran-Canadian living in Langley, B.C. He’s married, a loving father of three and a productive member of the community. He applied to Canada because he faced danger, having spoken out against a
repressive military dictatorship during a violent civil war in El Salvador. Canada accepted him on these grounds, but 13 years later, in May 210, the government decided to deport him for the same reason he was originally permitted into Canada. And this simply does not make any sense. Twenty years ago, Jose was a student organizer for the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN)—an organization that opposed the military dictatorship. After the civil war ended in 1992, the FMLN became a political party and is the current government of El Salvador. Due to some overly broad legislation, Canada has mistakenly labeled the FMLN as a terrorist organization, and Jose by extension as a terrorist—when he stood up for human rights against a military dictatorship that used death squads against any opposition. Jose and his wife have settled down in during the past 16 years, and have three Canadian born children, including an autistic son. His children have lived in Canada all their lives, and it would be a tragedy to uproot him and his family just because the government doesn’t understand his story. We are asking all Canadians to help us reverse the deportation order. Help us get a response from the Canadian government. [See below for more info, ways to help, and news links about the case including a short documentary]. To learn more about Jose's case see the following links and websites:
www.wearejose.com
See Jose's powerful talk at TED X Vancouver http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i84jJ4dQk-E
TED X Vancouver, con subtítulos en español/ with Spanish subtitles:l http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGVxu2wkoTY
www.wearejose.wordpress.com
Here is a short documentary about the case. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LyOZKYRGq8o&feature=player_embedded
http://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2010/09/20/OttawasFlawedMemory/
Some ways that you can help:
Write letters, emails, phone, to the Minister of Immigration, and to the Minister of Public Safety and to your Member of Parliament. Make a donation to the legal fund for Jose and his family. You can donate online at www.wearejosecom
Or donate via bank or mail. A special we are jose account has been set up, , with members of Jose's Langley community, Johnathon Dyck and Chris Nichol. Cheques can be made out to Jonathan Dyck one of the administrators of the account [write on cheque, donation for wearejose fund]. Please mail cheques c/o Jose Figueroa to the Walnut Grove Luthern Church, 20530 88 Ave Langley, BC V1M 2Y6
Alternatively, funds can be directly deposited to the account at any TD Branch. Here's the info:
Account # 63355 905
Branch # 9186
Please click 'like' on our page, https://www.facebook.com/pages/We-Are-Jose/130762186993781 or www.wearejose.com and share this info with all your contacts and ask them to click like. Please send us your email address so we can add you to our contact list to keep you up todate re upcoming activities
Thanks for your help! Gracias por su ayuda!
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About We Are Jose
In May 2010, shortly after the deportation order was made regarding Jose, his son's special needs teacher contacted the media to help bring attention to Jose's story and to help prevent his deportation. Within days of the media attention, a number of people who heard about Jose’s story via the media and were able to contact him, along with friends and fellow church congregation members of Jose’s formed a committee to try to help prevent Jose’s deportation. The We Are Jose committee originally the Committee To Stop the Deportation of Jose Figueroa, started in May 2010 as an ad-hoc committee to help stop the deportation of Jose Figueroa and includes Jose, members of Jose’s church, professors from the University of British Columbia, local Salvadorean community group members, a Langley special needs teacher, local community members, the President of the Salvadoran Association of Ottawa, and a member from a Latin group in Toronto. In January 2011, after an event in support of Jose organized by members of the University of British Columbia's Liu Institute the group was re-named the We Are Jose committee. The idea for the new name and the We Are Jose campaign originated from a group of political science students who met after the Liu Institute event. The We Are Jose group is concerned about Jose’s deportation order, and the problems with immigration policy that his deportation order highlights. The group aims to raise awareness of the policy concerns, and help people to become more engaged in civil society and democracy to help solve the problem with the immigration policy and help prevent not only Jose’s deportation but similar problems. As shown on the http://wearejose.wordpress.com/ site, the We Are Jose group has received endorsement from many prominent Canadian public figures, academics and community groups within Canadian society. in 2012 Christopher Ian Bennett, the previous interim leader of the Green Party, and coordinator of TED Vancouver, became Executive Director of the We Are Jose committee.
