Date: 20080723
Docket: IMM-3139-07
Citation: 2008 FC 897
Ottawa, Ontario, July 23,
2008
PRESENT: The Honourable Madam Justice Simpson
BETWEEN:
Ri
Xin Ao
Applicant
and
The
Minister of Citizenship and Immigration
Respondent
REASONS FOR JUDGMENT AND JUDGMENT
[1]
Ri
Xin Ao (the Applicant) seeks Judicial Review pursuant to subsection 72(1) of
the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, S.C. 2001, c. 27 (the Act)
of a decision of the Immigration Refugee Board, Refugee Protection Division (the
Board) of August 17, 2007 (the Decision) wherein it determined that he was not
a Convention Refugee or a person in need of protection.
BACKGROUND
[2]
The
Applicant was born in Guangdong Province, People’s
Republic of China and, prior
to coming to Canada, had lived his whole life in China. He worked
as a chef in a fast food restaurant where the pay was low.
[3]
In
January 2006, the Applicant met a snakehead who went by the name “Mr. Joe”. The
snakehead told the Applicant that he could help him come to Canada and work here
in exchange for 250,000 Chinese renminbi (approximately $36,000 Canadian at
that time).
[4]
The
Applicant claims that he borrowed money from a gang, the Hung Group Clique (the
Gang). The Applicant alleges that he later discovered that the Gang was run by
a high-ranking government official, Mr. Zhou.
[5]
The
snakehead made travel arrangements and provided a passport and other documents to
enable the Applicant to fly to Canada. When he arrived on April 12, 2006, an
accomplice of the snake-head collected his travel documents and told him to
apply for refugee status. The Applicant made the application the next day.
[6]
The
Applicant alleges that after he arrived in Canada, the Gang
threatened his family in China and told his family that they would kill
the Applicant unless the loan was repaid. The Applicant claims that, on one
occasion, members of the Gang assaulted his parents, knocking his mother down and
hurting her back.
[7]
In
January 2007, the Applicant’s family moved to the Shanxi Province in China in order to
escape the Gang. The Applicant reports that his family has not been harassed
since the move. However, he says that Shanxi Province is very poor
and that his family is having a hard time making a living there. He also claims
that if he returned to China, the Gang would find him.
THE DECISION
[8]
The
Board found that the Applicant was not credible and it doubted that Mr. Zhou
even existed much less that he would lend the Applicant money. The Board said:
The panel has to consider why such a
powerful and intelligent person would want to lend money to someone with
primary school education. In the panel’s view, there would be better prospects
for financial return on investment by picking someone with a higher education
and greater ability to earn money, once he actually arrived in Canada. The panel also weighed the
evidence of how likely was it that Mr. Zhou, the Chinese government officer
with allegedly so much influence, would know such a modest person, like the
claimant. In the view of the panel, the claimant’s account lacks credibility
and the panel does not believe Mr. Zhou exists in reality.
[9]
The
Board noted that the Applicant did not provide documents or other evidence to
corroborate his testimony. In particular, he provided no documents, such as a
hospital report, to support his claims that his mother had been hurt in an
attack by the Gang. Further, the Applicant failed to provide any newspaper
clippings or other evidence to show that Mr. Zhou existed. The Board did not
accept the Applicant’s explanation that if he asked his family and friends to
send documents he would put them in danger.
[10]
The
Board also held that the Applicant could rejoin his family and that, while
economic prospects were limited where they lived, this fact did not entitle the
Applicant to refugee status.
DISCUSSION
[11]
The
Applicant accepts that he was an economic migrant when he arrived in Canada. However, he
says that because of the threats from the Gang after he arrived, he has become
a person in need of protection under paragraph 97(1)(b) of the Act.
[12]
The
evidence was that the Applicant dealt with the Gang and only subsequently
learned that Mr. Zhou ran the Gang. There was no evidence that Mr. Zhou made
the decision to lend the Applicant money. Accordingly, the Board’s discussion
about why Mr. Zhou would not lend the Applicant money (quoted above) could not
properly be used to impugn his credibility.
[13]
Although,
I agree with the Respondent that credibility findings were not well reasoned,
the Applicant cannot succeed because the Board’s finding that he has an
internal flight alternative (IFA) is reasonable.
[14]
The
Applicant argues that the Board did not conduct an independent IFA analysis.
Instead, the Board held that the Applicant’s “reluctance to go and avail
himself of an IFA puts in question of credibility of his claim”. I agree with
the Applicant that his reluctance to join his family in a poor province in China has no
bearing on whether his allegations about the Gang are true.
[15]
However,
the Board did note that the Applicant’s family had not been harassed since
moving to Shanxi Province some six
months prior to the hearing. The Board also noted that the Applicant’s only objection
to living in Shanxi
Province
was that it was a poor area. The Board was entitled to disregard the
Applicant’s unsubstantiated and speculative claim that the Gang would
eventually find him if he returned to China.
[16]
While
the Decision could have been much clearer, the ultimate conclusion was
reasonable and, for that reason, this Application cannot succeed.
JUDGMENT
UPON reviewing the
material filed and hearing the submissions of counsel for both parties in Toronto on Wednesday,
February 27, 2008;
AND UPON being advised
that no questions are posed for certification;
NOW THEREFORE
THIS COURT ORDERS AND ADJUDGES that, for the reasons given
above, the Application is dismissed.
“Sandra
J. Simpson”
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