A Mongolian psychologist who admits to spying for China against his own country – and vice versa – has found sanctuary at a Toronto Anglican church.

Gankhuyag Bumuutseren lives in the basement of Christ Church St. James. "I am terrified to return to Mongolia," Bumuutseren says in a court affidavit.

The Immigration Refugee Board has ordered him deported, but Christ Church pastor Rev. Murray Henderson says he is harbouring the man on humanitarian grounds.

Bumuutseren is going blind, can't work, collects an Ontario disability pension and "does not represent a threat to national security," Henderson says.

Deportation would also split up a family, he says. Bumuutseren's wife and two of their three children were refused refugee status but have been granted a new hearing.

Bumuutseren, his wife and two children arrived in Canada in 2006. They have since had a third child – a Canadian.

In his affidavit, Bumuutseren says he went to China in 1992 to buy produce for resale in Mongolia.

A Mr. Hishige befriended him. Two years later, Hishige offered Bumuutseren money for information. Later, Bumuutseren realized he was spying for China. Mostly, he spied on activists with the independence movement for the Chinese province of Inner Mongolia.

When the Mongolians found out he was spying, they turned him into a double agent. When the Chinese discovered he was a double agent they jailed him for two years and tortured him, a claim undisputed by Canadian authorities.