Sgt. Corey Glass, who had already left his apartment and was set to return to the U.S. and possible jail time, was ecstatic. "It's great - this is great news," Glass said minutes after the stay was granted. "It buys a lot of time."

Glass, 25, was the first Iraqi war dodger to face deportation. Like other American soldiers who fled to Canada, his asylum claim was turned down on the grounds he faced prosecution in the U.S. but could rely on due process.

A separate federal risk assessment concluded he faced "no more than a mere possibility of persecution" and he was served a deportation order in May.

Glass, who has been living in Toronto, asked Federal Court for judicial review of that assessment and another decision refusing his application that he be allowed to remain in this country on humanitarian and compassionate grounds.

Articling lawyer Alyssa Manning, who was acting for Glass, said she was "definitely thrilled" at the deportation stay, which would likely last at least two months and much longer if the court actually agrees to hear the applications.

"The fact that the stay was granted in both cases means that the Federal Court judge decided that there was a serious issue to be decided in both of the applications," Manning said.

"That's a strong indication that leave will be granted."

It's the second legal win in the past week for an American deserter. On Friday, a Federal Court judge ordered Canada's refugee board to take another look its refusal to grant Joshua Key's asylum claim.

Among the court's findings was that Key didn't have to be involved in war crimes in Iraq to have a case for refugee status.

Glass said he had mixed emotions in light of friend and fellow deserter Robin Long, who is now in jail in British Columbia awaiting deportation to the U.S.

Like Glass, Long also failed to win refugee status in Canada.

"It's bittersweet. It's awesome. But there's really no celebration until he gets out of jail," Glass said.

Federal New Democrat MP Olivia Chow said it was time for Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Conservative government "to stop wasting taxpayers' money" and offer some kind of residence program for the war dodgers before the courts force them to do so.

"In the meantime, we're wasting thousands and thousands of dollars throwing people in jail and attempting to deport them," Chow said.

Glass, of Fairmount, Ind., joined the U.S. National Guard in 2002 believing it was a "humanitarian organization." He said he was told he would never be deployed abroad to combat.

In 2005, he was sent to Iraq, where he spent five months in military intelligence. The job, he said, gave him broad insight into what was going on there. While on leave in the U.S., he decided to desert. After seven months in hiding, he fled to Canada.

He arrived in August 2006, one of an estimated 200 American soldiers who have come to Canada rather than fight in a war they argue is illegal because it has no United Nations sanction.

Glass said he had faith he would be spared deportation because of the strong public support in Canada for the American soldiers who have fled here rather than fight in Iraq.

He said he planned now to go back find an apartment and return to his work in funeral services.