Former KGB agent Mikhail Lennikov, left, with MP Ujjal Dosanjh. Lennikov has taken sanctuary in Vancouver's First Lutheran Church to avoid deportation. Liberal and NDP MPs are asking the government to relent and let Lennikov stay in Canada. IAN SMITH, VANCOUVER SUN
VANCOUVER — Two B.C. members of Parliament invoked the spirit of Christmas Sunday as they called for the government to back down and allow former KGB agent Mikhail Lennikov to stay in Canada.
“Christmas is the season of giving and forgiveness, the season of generosity,” said Liberal MP Ujjal Dosanjh at a news conference with NDP MP Don Davies and Lennikov at the church where Lennikov has taken sanctuary.
“In that spirit, I wanted to make sure that we remind the government that they have a chance ... to be forgiving and giving and generous and allow Mikhail Lennikov to permanently stay in the country.”
Lennikov, 49, entered Canada on a student visa in 1997 and has lived here with his wife and son for more than a decade. He says he did a combination of clerical work and translation for the KGB from 1983 to 1988.
He took sanctuary at the First Lutheran Church in east Vancouver in June after immigration officials declared him a threat to national security and denied his application to stay in Canada.
His wife, Irina, and son, Dmitri, were given permission to stay in Canada on compassionate grounds.
At the church Sunday, Lennikov said some of his biggest frustrations are not being able to spend more time with his family and not being able to guide 18-year-old Dmitri along a career path. Another is leaving Irina to head the household on her own.
“My wife has to bear this burden of providing for the whole family and taking care of Dmitri,” said Lennikov. “It’s extremely difficult, seeing her almost at the edge of her emotional and even physical strength.”
With the help of NDP MP Peter Julian, Lennikov recently obtained more than 3,500 pages of documents from various government departments and says there is nothing in them that indicates he’s a threat to Canadian security.
“He has not found anything in those documents other than what he had given them by way of information himself,” said Dosanjh.
“We can’t find a sentence — not a word — that would explain to any reasonable person why Mikhail Lennikov ought not to be allowed in this country,” said Davies.
Lennikov says he will spend Christmas attending a church service, followed by a dinner with family and friends from the congregation.
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