Date: 20120405
Docket: IMM-4577-11
Citation: 2012 FC 395
Toronto,
Ontario, April 5, 2012
PRESENT: The
Honourable Madam Justice Heneghan
BETWEEN:
FERNANDA PEREIRA DOS SANTOS
Applicant
and
THE MINISTER OF CITIZENSHIP
AND
IMMIGRATION
Respondent
REASONS FOR JUDGMENT AND JUDGMENT
[1]
Ms. Fernanda Pereira Dos Santos (the
“Applicant”) seeks judicial review of the decision of the Refugee
Protection Division of the Immigration and Refugee Board, (the “Board”)
pursuant to subsection 72(1) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, S.C.
2001 c. 27, (the “Act”) determining that she is not a Convention refugee and
not in need of protection pursuant to sections 96 and 97 of the Act.
[2]
The Applicant is a citizen of Brazil. She entered Canada as a visitor in
2004. She submitted her claim for refugee protection on February 6, 2009.
Following a hearing before the Board on May 2, 2011, her claim was denied
by a decision dated May 30, 2011.
[3]
The Applicant claims to fear her former boyfriend who is also the father
of her child. She alleges that he will find her in Brazil and remove the child
from her care and custody.
[4]
The Board found that the determinative issue in this case was state
protection, specifically the future-looking nature of the claim since the
Applicant’s fear arose while she was living in Canada with her child. The Board
found that documentary evidence shows support for women facing gender related
violence and legislation supporting children’s rights.
[5]
The Board’s finding on state protection is the dispositive issue in this
application for judicial review. That finding, being a question of mixed fact
and law, is reviewable on the standard of reasonableness (see Canada
(Minister of Citizenship and Immigration) v. Khosa, [2009] 1 S.C.R. 339).
This means that the reviewing Court is to assess the challenged decision in
terms of justification, transparency and intelligibility; it is not open to it
to substitute its own view of a preferable outcome (Khosa, at para. 59).
[6]
Having regard to the evidence before the Board, that is the Applicant’s
Personal Information Form (“PIF”), the documentary evidence and the Applicant’s
oral testimony, I am not persuaded that the Board committed any reviewable
error. It assessed the Applicant’s personal circumstances against the documentary
evidence about the availability of state protection that is protection from
state agencies including the police, and the contemporary legislative framework
and access to courts. I reject the Applicant’s submission that the Board
provided only a “laundry list” of the documentary evidence relative to the
efforts by Brazil to address violence against women, without analyzing that
documentary evidence.
[7]
In the result, the application for judicial review is dismissed. There
is no question for certification arising.
JUDGMENT
The
application for judicial review of the decision of the Refugee Protection
Division of the Immigration and Refugee Board is dismissed. There is no
question for certification arising in this case.
“E. Heneghan”
FEDERAL COURT
NAME OF COUNSEL
AND SOLICITORS OF RECORD
DOCKET: IMM-4577-11
STYLE OF
CAUSE: FERNANDA PEREIRA DOS SANTOS v. THE MINISTER
OF CITIZENSHIP AND IMMIGRATION
PLACE OF HEARING: Toronto, Ontario
DATE OF HEARING: April 3, 2012
REASONS FOR JUDGMENT
AND JUDGMENT: Heneghan J.
DATED: April
5, 2012
APPEARANCES:
Hart A. Kaminker FOR
THE APPLICANT
Julie Waldman FOR
THE RESPONDENT
SOLICITORS OF RECORD:
Barrister and Solicitor FOR
THE APPLICANT
Toronto, Ontario
Myles J. Kirvan FOR
THE RESPONDENT
Deputy Attorney General of Canada
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