The Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Association has launched a postcard campaign to pressure the government to deport Mikhail Lennikov, a Burnaby resident and former KGB agent who has been in church sanctuary for more than a year.

In recent weeks, the association has been distributing postcards, which read "No KGB in Canada," to the public and mailing them to politicians, the RCMP, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service and the Canadian Border Services Agency.

"(It's) a wake-up call, it's a reminder," said Lubomyr Luciuk, the association's director of research. "It's a reminder this man has now been in Canada a year after he supposed to be deported."

The postcard's graphics show a flight attendant and a departing plane with the words "Vancouver to Vladivostock" in the wake. (Lennikov is from Vladivostock.) On the back of the postcard, it states: "On 28 January 2010 The National Post quoted the Honourable Vic Toews, Minister of Public Safety, as saying, 'The Immigration and Refugee Board and the courts have determined that Mr. Lennikov is not admissible to Canada under our laws.' I agree! So why is this veteran officer of the notorious Soviet secret police, the KGB, still here?"

The Canadian government wants to send Lennikov back to Russia because he worked for the KGB for five years in the '80s. Canadian immigration law states members of an organization that spied on a democratic government are not allowed to stay in the country unless the public safety minister deems they are not detrimental to national security.

Lennikov first came to Canada in 1997 on a student visa. He took cover in Vancouver's First Lutheran Church on June 2, 2009, just one day before he was scheduled to be deported. While Lennikov and his supporters say he is not a security threat and should be allowed to stay, the government has not budged on its position that he's inadmissible. Lennikov has exhausted all legal appeals and is still facing deportation.

Luciuk, who is also a former member of the federal Immigration and Refugee Board, is questioning why Lennikov is still here.

"I think they should go in there and remove him and send him back to Vladivostock. If his wife and his kid want to join him, great," he said.

For Luciuk, the push to deport Lennikov is not a personal attack, it's a principled matter of upholding the law.

"The law is very clear: Any person involved with the KGB is inadmissible," he said. "I'm sure (Lennikov) is a nice guy. ... This has nothing to do with him, it has to do with the laws of the land."

Luciuk also questioned "well-intentioned but ignorant MPs" who have thrown their support behind Lennikov.

"The reality of it is it's not a matter of opinion. The law is clear," he said.

The federal government's position is the same: "The immigration and refugee board and the courts have determined that Mr. Lennikov is not admissible to Canada under our laws. The removal of admissible individuals is key to maintaining the integrity of the immigration program and to ensuring fairness of those who come to this country lawfully."

Luciuk said the postcards were part of a "national campaign intended to remind to government of Canada to uphold the laws of the land."

"This is as much a grassroots campaign as the campaign to allow Mr. Lennikov to stay in Canada," he said.

Lennikov declined to comment on this story, and the CBSA was not able to comment by NOW deadlines.

For more on this story, see Jennifer Moreau's blog, Community Conversations, at www.burnabynow.com - click on the Opinion tab and follow the Blogs link.