COAST SALISH TERRITORY  - A  federal court judge in Vancouver has granted Salvadoran refugee Jose Figueroa a stay on his deportation order for three months.  The father of three has been in sanctuary in a Langley church. His deportation was to take place on Thursday.

Figueroa`s lawyer said the temporary stay until Jan. 15 is to give the family time to contest the deportation order on compassionate grounds.

Figueroa's wife and three children were on hand at the court hearing today in downtown Vancouver as a support rally was held outside. Those in the courtroom said the judge appeared to have little sympathy for Canada Border Services or the Crown in their feeble attempts to show just cause to deport Jose.  

Figueroa has lived in Canada for 15 years and was accepted because of danger he faced from El Salvador's rightwing dictatorship during the civil war. He has been pursued by Border Services because he was a student member of the FMLN - then opposed to the dictatorship and now the governing party in El Salvador. Canada`s designation of the FMLN as a terrorist organization is a leftover from the time of the dictatorship - when Canada went along with the US in supporting state terrorism in El Salvador.