Check out this list of talented stars who will be performing!
Mark Cassius, Alessandro Costantini, Daniel Williston, Jennifer Walls, Tim Porter, Tessus Barao, Esther Vallins, Karina Bershteyn, Tessa Gooden, Sarah Strange, Tiera Lee Watts
Plus more to come! Their instructions? "Sing two songs that make you sound amazing! "YOU DO NOT WANT TO MISS THIS!
So WHY are these beautiful people donating their time and talent?
Jose Figueroa is the type of immigrant any country would want. His wife and three children were described by the Langley Times as a "model immigrant family". He has lived in Canada for almost 18 years and has always worked hard to support his wife and three Canadian born children (including one with autism).
Yet for over a year he has been living in a church in Langley B.C. - unable to work and separated from his family. Why? Because the Harper Government wants to deport him.
Jose Fiogueroa was a student leader in El Slavador in the 1980s - a very dangerous thing to be. The Government of El Salvador killed 80,000 people between 1980 and 1992. Like many people, Jose was a member of the FMLN - the Jose Marti Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front. This group had mass support - largely because the Government of the day was so brutal - they used rape, torture, and death squads to silence any opposition - they even murdered the people's beloved Archbishop Romero, who spoke out against the regime. They also fired on the people who attended his funeral - killing score more.
There are 150,000 Salvadorans in Canada - most were members or sympathetic to the FMLN - which is why they were forced to flee. Jose was just one of them.
So all these years later Jose has been accused of belonging to a "terrorist group". Despite the fact he never picked up a gun in the conflict. Despite the fact that the FMLN has won the last two elections in El Salvador and is currently the Government. Despite the fact that the current president of El Salvador is an ex-combatant with the FMLN. Despite the fact that our Government continues to hold high level diplomatic relations with these so called "terrorists". Despite the fact that no other Government or international body considers the FMLN to be a terrorist group.
Jose won an appeal in the Federal Court in July last year and has been waiting since then for a new decision maker to rule on his case. The Government is happy for him to wait forever it seems. The CBSA refuses to drop the arrest warrant - they want him to wait in a jail cell. This is why he remains in the church. The CBSA is there in the car park almost every day - filming him and using other tactics to stress him out. Your taxpayers dollars are paying for them to be there. They are bullying an innocent family.
It is hard to defend yourself in tho country unless you are rich and can afford lawyers. Jose is running out of money. This will impact the achievement of justice in his case.
Please come to this concert and donate what you can. All proceeds go to the Figueroa family for legal costs and to be blunt.....food.
More info about jose can be found at www.wearejose.com Donations can also be made there.
Thank you to all the wonderful performers who made this happen!
Age limit: All ages