Date: 20050413
Docket: IMM-4462-04
Citation: 2005 FC 500
Toronto, Ontario, April 13th, 2005
Present: The Honourable Madam Justice Layden-Stevenson
BETWEEN:
YILIN NIU
Applicant
and
THE MINISTER OF CITIZENSHIP AND IMMIGRATION
Respondent
REASONS FOR ORDER AND ORDER
[1] Ms. Niu, a Chinese citizen, initially came to Canada as a student in November, 2002. In May, 2003, she claimed refugee status on the basis of her membership in an underground Christian church in China. The Refugee Protection Division of the Immigration and Refugee Board (RPD) determined that the applicant is neither a Convention refugee nor a person in need of protection. Its decision turned on credibility.
[2] The applicant accepts that the standard of review regarding credibility findings is that of patent unreasonableness, but says that the test is met. She points to three specific errors in the board's reasons and contends that the RPD did not have regard to the personal information form (PIF) narrative when making its determination.
[3] Despite the articulate submissions of Ms. Niu's counsel, I am not persuaded that the decision should be set aside. I agree that the board's findings - that Ms. Niu failed to list, in her PIF, both the date of her visit to a fortune teller and the date of her baptism - are erroneous. Both dates were listed. I do not agree that the fact, date and two-year sentence in relation to her uncle's arrest was misstated by the board as alleged. The fact of her uncle's arrest was contained in the PIF, but the other information was not.
[4] Having carefully reviewed the PIF, the transcript of the hearing, and the board's reasons, I am satisfied that the board's determination was not patently or otherwise unreasonable and that it was not dependent on the mistaken facts.
[5] The RPD determined that Ms. Niu did not display a knowledge of Christianity consistent with that of one who had attended church more than one hundred times in China and regularly in Canada. She claimed to have been baptized, but had no knowledge of the purpose of baptism. Although she alleged that she attended church in Canada, she produced no evidence to substantiate her participation.
[6] The board, in detailing its credibility findings, noted that she failed to mention in her PIF that her uncle had been sentenced to two years imprisonment, that he had been tortured, and that it was the torture that led to his identification of her as a member of the underground church. Additionally, while she testified at length as to how her uncle came to convert to Christianity and maintained that it triggered her own conversion, she had not mentioned this in her PIF.
[7] At her hearing, Ms. Niu stated that she also feared persecution because she sent e-mails containing Christian content to her uncle. The RPD found this testimony problematic and questioned why she was not able to produce the e-mails, how the Chinese authorities would identify her as the author when her name was not part of the e-mail address, why she deleted the e-mails from her hotmail account in Canada, how the e-mails would make it through the Chinese internet filter system, how her uncle was able to retrieve them from a public library and, if the content of the e-mails was so dangerous and so sensitive that she refused to keep copies, why she would send them to her uncle and put him at risk. No satisfactory response to any of the questions was provided.
[8] The RPD further found that Ms. Niu did not testify in a straightforward, direct manner and that she had to be reminded to answer questions directly. In the end, the board concluded that she had never converted to Christianity or attended an underground church in China and that she was not a sincere Christian believer. Rather, any church attendance or rudimentary knowledge of Christian religion was undertaken for the purpose of asserting a refugee claim.
[9] There was ample evidence, exclusive of the erroneous findings, to support the board's determination and my intervention is not warranted. Counsel declined to suggest a question for certification and none arises from these facts.
ORDER
THIS COURT ORDERS THAT the application for judicial review is dismissed.
"Carolyn Layden-Stevenson"
J.F.C.
FEDERAL COURT
NAME OF COUNSEL AND SOLICITORS OF RECORD
DOCKET: IMM-4462-04
STYLE OF CAUSE: YILIN NIU
Applicant
and
THE MINISTER OF CITIZENSHIP AND IMMIGRATION
Respondent
PLACE OF HEARING: TORONTO, ONTARIO
DATE OF HEARING: APRIL 12, 2005
REASONS FOR ORDER: LAYDEN-STEVENSON J.
DATED: APRIL 13, 2005
APPEARANCES:
Hart A. Kaminker FOR THE APPLICANT
Janet Chisholm FOR THE RESPONDENT
SOLICITORS OF RECORD:
Kranc & Associates
Toronto, ON FOR THE APPLICANT
John H. Sims, Q.C.
Deputy Attorney General of Canada FOR THE RESPONDENT
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