Chafni v. Canada (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration), 2002 FCT 530

                                                                                                                                             Date: 20020513

                                                                                                                                  Docket: IMM-4191-00

                                                                                                                   Neutral Citation: 2002 FCT 530

Between:

                                                 ABDELAZIZ CHAFNI

                                                                                                                        Applicant

                                                              - and -

                                       THE MINISTER OF CITIZENSHIP

                                                  AND IMMIGRATION

                                                                                                                    Respondent

                                                REASONS FOR ORDER

PINARD, J.:

[1]         The applicant seeks judicial review of a decision of the Refugee Division of the Immigration and Refugee Board (the Board) dated June 13, 2000, in which the Board determined he was not a Convention refugee as defined in subsection 2(1) of the Immigration Act, R.S.C. 1985, c. I-2.

[2]         The applicant is a 31-year-old citizen of Morocco who claims to have a well-founded fear of persecution on the grounds of his political opinion.

[3]         The Board determined that the applicant is not a Convention refugee due to his lack of credibility.

[4]         The applicant contests the Board's credibility finding. It is trite law to state that a reviewing court should not interfere with the credibility findings of a Board, provided that the decisions were properly founded on the evidence. In the present matter, I am of the view that the Board's decision was properly founded on the evidence before it. The Board enumerated a list of contradictions and implausibilities in the applicant's evidence which reasonably support its negative credibility finding. The applicant contests certain of the Board's findings on the basis that they are "mere speculation". I must insist that the Board is entitled to infer that an applicant is untrustworthy because of implausibilities in his or her evidence as long as its inferences are not unreasonable (Aguebor v. Canada (M.E.I.) (1993), 160 N.R. 315 at 316 (F.C.A.)).

[5]         In its decision, the Board acknowledges that the evidence of persecution of Islamist Justice and Charity Group (JCO) members at the hands of the Moroccan authorities submitted by the applicant is equivocal. The Board, as a specialized fact-finding entity, is entitled to weigh the evidence as it deems appropriate and in doing so, shall reach the conclusion it sees fit (see Tawfik v. Canada (M.E.I.), (1993), 137 F.T.R. 43 at 46). I am not prepared to substitute my own assessment of the evidence to that of the Board. As each of the Board's findings of implausibility can find support in the evidence, I am not inclined to modify them.

[6]         Consequently, as the applicant did not succeed in demonstrating that the Board made a decision based on an erroneous finding of fact that it made in a perverse or capricious manner or without regard to the material before it (paragraph 18.1(4)(d) of the Federal Court Act, R.S.C. 1985, c. F-7), the application for judicial review is dismissed.

       JUDGE

OTTAWA, ONTARIO

May 13, 2002

                                                       FEDERAL COURT OF CANADA

                                                                     TRIAL DIVISION

                                   NAMES OF COUNSEL AND SOLICITORS OF RECORD

DOCKET:                                                             IMM-4191-00

STYLE OF CAUSE:                                             Abdelaziz Chafni v. The Minister of Citizenship and Immigration

PLACE OF HEARING:                                       Montréal, Quebec

DATE OF HEARING:                           April 10, 2002

REASONS FOR ORDER OF THE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE PINARD

DATED:                                                               May 13, 2002

APPEARANCES:

Styliani Markaki                                                  FOR THE APPLICANT

Mario Blanchard                                                  FOR THE RESPONDENT

SOLICITORS OF RECORD:

M^e Styliani Markaki                                             FOR THE APPLICANT

Montréal, Quebec

Mr. Morris Rosenberg                           FOR THE RESPONDENT

Deputy Attorney General of Canada

Ottawa, Ontario