Docket: A-195-15
Citation: 2016 FCA 183
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CORAM:
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PELLETIER J.A.
STRATAS J.A.
GLEASON J.A.
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BETWEEN:
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THE MINISTER OF
CITIZENSHIP AND IMMIGRATION
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Appellant
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and
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ABREYAH CALICIA
YOUNG
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BY HER
LITIGATION GUARDIAN PATRICE YOUNG
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Respondent
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REASONS FOR
JUDGMENT
PELLETIER J.A.
[1]
Ms Patrice Young (Ms Young), a Canadian citizen,
adopted her cousin’s daughter, Abreyah Calicia Cockburn (now Abreyah Calicia
Young – “Abreyah”) who, pending the resolution of these proceedings, continues
to reside with her natural mother (Ms Lisa Pope) in St. Vincent and the
Grenadines. As part of the adoption process, Ms Young submitted character
references and medical information. In addition, she was the subject of a
detailed home study conducted by an Alberta child welfare agency which found
that Ms Young’s home was appropriate for reception of an adopted child. These
documents were submitted to the authorities in St. Vincent and the Grenadines. Once
the adoption was finalized by order of the High Court of Justice of the Supreme
Court of the Eastern Caribbean in November 2013, Ms Young immediately filed an
application for Canadian citizenship on behalf of her adopted daughter. The
application was considered by a Visa Officer from the Canadian High Commission
in Trinidad and Tobago who dismissed it because, in her opinion, the adoption did
not meet any of the statutory criteria set out in subsection 5.1(1) of the Citizenship
Act, R.S.C. 1985, c. C-29 [the Act]. Ms Young, acting as litigation
guardian for her adopted daughter, brought an application for judicial review
of the Visa Officer’s decision in her daughter’s name. In a decision reported
as 2015 FC 316, the Federal Court allowed the application for judicial review
and returned the matter for reconsideration by a different Visa Officer. The
Minister of Citizenship and Immigration now appeals from the Federal Court’s
decision.
[2]
For the reasons which follow, I would dismiss
the appeal.
[3]
Since the essential facts are set out above, I
will turn immediately to my analysis. The details of the Visa Officer’s
decision will be set out in the course of my analysis so as to avoid
repetition.
I.
ANALYSIS
[4]
As this is an application for judicial review of
an administrative decision, the standard of review is reasonableness, as set
out in Dunsmuir v. New Brunswick, 2008 SCC 9, [2008] 1 S.C.R. 190 [Dunsmuir],
subject to certain exceptions, none of which apply here. But reasonableness
does not necessarily mean obviousness, as was recognized long ago in Canada
(Director of Investigation and Research, Competition Act) v. Southam Inc.,
[1997] 1 S.C.R. 748, [1996] S.C.J. No. 116, at paragraph 57:
The difference between
"unreasonable" and "patently unreasonable" lies in the
immediacy or obviousness of the defect. If the defect is apparent on the face
of the tribunal's reasons, then the tribunal's decision is patently
unreasonable. But if it takes some significant searching or testing to find the
defect, then the decision is unreasonable but not patently unreasonable.
[5]
While this discussion occurs in the context of
the Court’s attempt to distinguish between an “unreasonable”
and a “patently unreasonable” decision, the fact
that a certain amount of probing is required is consistent with a
reasonableness analysis. As we shall see, the application of the reasonableness
standard to the facts of this case requires a certain amount of looking past
the obvious to bring the question of reasonableness into focus.
[6]
This Court, sitting on appeal from the Federal
Court as the reviewing court, is to examine if the latter chose the correct
standard of review and applied it correctly: Telfer v. Canada Revenue Agency,
2009 FCA 23, 386 N.R. 212, at paragraph 18. In effect, this Court steps into
the shoes of the Federal Court and reviews the original decision: Merck
Frosst Canada Ltd. v. Canada (Health), 2012 SCC 3, [2012] 1 S.C.R. 23, at paragraph
247, Agraira v. Canada (Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness), 2013
SCC 36, [2013] 2 S.C.R. 559, at paragraphs 46-47.
[7]
The Federal Court correctly identified
reasonableness as the standard of review which it was to apply to the Visa
Officer’s decision. Its analysis led it to conclude that the Visa Officer’s
decision was unreasonable. Before us, the Minister argues strenuously that the
Federal Court misdirected itself in the application of that standard. While
conceding that not everyone would necessarily come to the same conclusion, the
Minister argues that, on the facts as she observed or found them, the Visa
Officer’s decision was one which fell “within a range
of possible, acceptable outcomes which are defensible in respect of the facts
and law”: Dunsmuir at paragraph 47. The Minister argues that the
Visa Officer’s decision was entitled to deference and ought not to have been disturbed
by the Federal Court, hence this appeal.
[8]
This appeal turns on the interpretation of the
conditions set out in section 5.1 of the Act. The law as to statutory
interpretation requires that statutes be interpreted “in
their entire context and in their grammatical and ordinary sense harmoniously
with the scheme of the Act, the object of the Act, and the
intention of Parliament”: Rizzo & Rizzo Shoes Ltd. (Re),
[1998] 1 S.C.R. 27, [1998] S.C.J. No. 2, at paragraph 21. This requires a “textual, contextual and purposive analysis to find a meaning
that is harmonious with the Act as a whole”: Canada Trustco
Mortgage Co. v. Canada, 2005 SCC 54, [2005] 2 S.C.R. 601, at paragraph 10.
[9]
The starting point is the legislative framework
within which the decision was taken. At the time the Visa Officer’s decision
was taken, the relevant provision of the Act read as follows:
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5.1 (1) Subject to subsection (3), the Minister shall on
application grant citizenship to a person who was adopted by a citizen on or
after January 1, 1947 while the person was a minor child if the adoption:
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5.1 (1) Sous réserve du paragraphe (3), le ministre attribue, sur
demande, la citoyenneté à la personne adoptée par un citoyen le 1er janvier
1947 ou subséquemment lorsqu’elle était un enfant mineur. L’adoption doit par
ailleurs satisfaire aux conditions suivantes :
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(a) was in the best interests of the child;
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a) elle a été faite dans l’intérêt supérieur de l’enfant
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(b) created a genuine relationship of parent and child;
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b) elle a créé un véritable lien affectif parent-enfant entre
l’adoptant et l’adopté;
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(c) was in accordance with the laws of the place where the
adoption took place and the laws of the country of residence of the adopting
citizen; and
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c) elle a été faite conformément au droit du lieu de l’adoption et
du pays de résidence de l’adoptant;
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(d) was not entered into primarily for the purpose of acquiring a
status or privilege in relation to immigration or citizenship.
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d) elle ne visait pas principalement l’acquisition d’un statut ou
d’un privilège relatifs à l’immigration ou à la citoyenneté.
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[10]
This provision was added to the Act by
amendment in 2007. In order to put the amendment in context, I reproduce below
portions of the Parliamentary debates when Bill C-14, An Act to amend the
Citizenship Act (Adoption), which included what has now become section 5.1
of the Act, was introduced for second reading. Given that both parties
rely upon these debates in support of their case (Appellant’s memorandum of
fact and law at paragraph 29, Respondent’s memorandum of fact and law at
paragraphs 80, 83), I presume that no objection will be taken to my referring
to them:
Currently, Canadian
citizens residing in Canada who wish to adopt a foreign-born child abroad must
first sponsor the child as a permanent resident. Only after that step has been
taken can an application be made for citizenship. With this bill we are making
it easier for Canadian parents to obtain Canadian citizenship for their
foreign-born adopted children, whether the parents reside in Canada or abroad.
…
Bill C-14 gives
children adopted overseas access to citizenship without having first to apply
for permanent residence. It reduces delays in getting citizenship for children
who are becoming part of Canadian families. It is an expression of our desire
as Canadians to see new families constituted as supportively and as quickly as
possible.
…
This legislation
streamlines the process for families. It augments the fairness of our system as
a whole. It has the support of Canadians across the country. That is because we
listened carefully to any concerns raised in our consultations, concerns for
example about the possibility of individuals adopting children merely to help
them acquire citizenship, adoptions of convenience as they are known. We
crafted the bill to deal specifically and coherently with these concerns.
Among other
safeguards, Bill C-14 ensures that the existence of a genuine parent-child
relationship is demonstrated, that the best interests of the child are being
met, that a proper home assessment has been made, that the birth parents have
given their consent to the adoption, and that no person will achieve
unwarranted gain as a result of the adoption.
Official Report
(Hansard) of the House of Commons Debates, 39th Parliament 1st session, Volume
141, Number 39, June 13, 2006, p. 2307
[11]
These extracts show that the legislation was
intended to provide a benefit to Canadians adopting children abroad while at
the same time guarding against certain possible abuses. Prominent among these
was the possibility of adoptions of convenience, that is, adoptions entered
into primarily for the purpose of acquiring a status or privilege in relation
to immigration or citizenship. However, the statute must be read so that the
search for abusive practices does not deprive Canadians of the intended benefit
of the legislative changes.
[12]
In this context, it is useful to reflect upon
what is meant by an adoption of convenience, a phrase which suffers from its
association with “marriages of convenience”. In
a marriage of convenience, two strangers who have no intention of living
together go through a form of marriage for the purpose of perpetrating a fraud
on the immigration system. The parties do not share anything except their
objective of “gaming” the immigration system.
Once their objective is achieved, they go their separate ways.
[13]
In the case of adoptions of infants or young
children, the analogy to marriages of convenience is inapt. An infant cannot
go, or be sent, on its way once it has been granted citizenship. It requires
care and nurturing. If an adoptive parent undertakes to provide that care and
nurturing, it is difficult to see how the adoption could be said to be an
adoption of convenience. As the age of the adopted child increases, the need
for care and nurturing decreases and the possibility of independent living
increases, which may justify a closer scrutiny of the surrounding circumstances.
[14]
The conviction that an adoption is an adoption
of convenience must rest on more than the awareness of the advantages to be
gained by adoption. Every parent adopting a child from a country which does not
have Canada’s advantages will be aware of the advantages which the child will
have in Canada relative to its country of birth. If that were the test, there
would be no genuine adoptions for purposes of this legislation. The issue is
not the knowledge of the relative advantages of life in Canada but the
commitment of the adoptive parent to raise the child as their own, meeting the
child’s material and emotional needs as they arise.
[15]
This Court considered the issue of adoptions of
convenience in Dufour v. Canada (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration),
2014 FCA 81, [2015] 3 F.C.R. 75 [Dufour] at paragraphs 54-56:
54 Normally,
adopting a child abroad necessarily involves obtaining a status or privilege in
relation to immigration or citizenship because cases in which the Canadian
parent adopts with no intention of returning to live in Canada with the new
child immediately or in the medium term are rare.
55 Adoptions of
convenience are limited to situations where the parties (the adoptee or the
adopter) have no real intention to create a parent-child relationship. They are
adoptions where appearances do not reflect the reality. They are schemes to
circumvent the requirements of the Act or of the Immigration and Refugee
Protection Act, S.C. 2001, c. 27.
56 If there is a
true intention to create a parent-child relationship and this relationship is
in the best interests of the minor child, it cannot normally be concluded that
the adoption is entered into primarily to create a status or a privilege
in relation to immigration or citizenship. [emphasis in the original]
[16]
The essence of an “adoption
of convenience” is that it does not reflect reality.
[17]
An example of an adoption of convenience can be
found in Davis v. Canada (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration), 2015
FCA 41, [2015] F.C.J. No. 115 (Quicklaw) [Davis]. In that case, two
young women, aged 17 and 19, entered Canada on visitors’ visas to visit their
grandmother. After a short period of time, they decided that they wished to
stay. Rather than returning to Jamaica and applying to immigrate through the
normal channels, they persuaded their grandmother to adopt them and then
applied for citizenship.
[18]
Their application for citizenship was refused on
the basis that their adoption was primarily for the purpose of obtaining
citizenship. The young women in question would almost certainly not have been
eligible for admission to Canada as permanent residents as they probably could
not bring themselves within any of the economic classes and, as I read the
Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations, SOR/2002-227, their
grandmother could not have sponsored them. There is nothing to suggest that
they could have claimed refugee status. Adoption, or marriage to a Canadian
citizen, was the only way in which they could qualify for citizenship. On those
facts, this Court held that the immigration officer’s conclusion that the
adoption was entered into for the purpose of acquiring an advantage with
respect to immigration and citizenship was reasonable.
[19]
It must also be borne in mind that the criteria
set out in subsection 5.1(1) are not intended to second guess the decision of
the child welfare authorities in the child’s and the adoptive mother’s
respective jurisdictions. Those officials are responsible for assessing and
approving the adoption itself, usually subject to some form of judicial
oversight. At the point at which an application for citizenship is made, that
process is complete. The only issue is whether the child will be granted
Canadian citizenship on the strength of that adoption.
[20]
I now turn to an examination of the Visa
Officer’s decision, the material portions of which are reproduced below:
In particular, in
your document submission and at interview, you have failed to satisfy me that
this adoption is in the best interests of the child pursuant to subsection
5.1(1)(a) of the Citizenship Act. Further, you have failed to satisfy me
that this adoption has created a genuine relationship of parent and child
pursuant to subsection 5.1(1)(b) of the Citizenship Act. In addition you
have failed to satisfy me that this adoption was not entered into primarily for
the purpose of acquiring status or privilege in relation to immigration or
citizenship pursuant to subsection 5.1(1)(d) of the Citizenship Act.
Section
5.1(3)(c)(iii) of the Citizenship Regulations stipulates the
pre-existing legal parent-child relationship must be permanently severed by the
adoption. Based on your submission and interview, I am not satisfied that the
pre-existing parent-child relationship has been severed as the child continues
to reside with her biological mother in a parent-child relationship.
Appeal Book at p.
45-46 [emphasis in original]
[21]
The Minister now concedes that the legal
parent-child relationship was in fact severed by the adoption, as required by
sub-paragraph 5.1(3)(c)(iii) of the Citizenship Regulations
SOR/93- 246, “regardless of the parties’ subsequent
decision to have the child continue to reside with the biological mother”:
Appellant’s memorandum of fact and law, at paragraph 63. Given that concession,
I need not say more about that aspect of the case.
[22]
Furthermore the Visa Officer did not
specifically examine the application of paragraph 5.1(1)(c) of the Act
which requires that the adoption have been “in
accordance with the laws of the place where the adoption took place and the
laws of the country of residence of the adopting citizen.” There is no
issue that the Abreyah’s adoption was in accordance with the laws of St.
Vincent and the Grenadines and the laws of Canada, subject to the terms of the Act
itself.
[23]
The Visa Officer’s first ground for refusing the
application for citizenship is that she had not been persuaded that the
adoption was in the best interests of the child. In her notes setting out the
rationale for her decision, reproduced at pages 113-119 of the Appeal Book, the
Visa Officer noted that both the biological mother and the adoptive mother
considered the best interests of the child on the basis of the advantages that
come from having status in Canada – medical care, education – but did not
consider other matters such as family ties, parental love, parent-child
relationship. The Visa Officer did not believe that the adults had considered “the effects of uprooting the child, establishing new
parental relationships, losing a close parent etc.” In the end result,
the Visa Officer was not satisfied that it was in the best interests of the
child:
…to be uprooted from
her biological mother with whom she shares a very close relationship and be
brought into a home with an adoptive parent she met for the 2nd time yesterday
and an adoptive father she has never met, to be raised by two adults with whom
she has a very limited relationship and definitely not a parent-child
relationship.
Appeal Book, at
pages 114-115
[24]
The Minister argues that while not everyone
might come to the same conclusion, the Visa Officer’s decision was within the
range of acceptable outcomes having regard to the facts and the law.
[25]
Without wishing to diminish the importance of
being attentive to the best interests of the child, I point out that the Act
is not child welfare legislation. It is true that the statutory direction to
the Visa Officer is to ensure that the adoption “was in
the best interests of the child” but this must be understood in the
context of the mischief which the conditions set out in subsection 5.1(1) are
intended to prevent, namely child trafficking and adoptions of convenience. The
question for the Visa Officer is not whether the child will be better served by
staying in the natural mother’s home as opposed to the adoptive mother’s home.
That is a question which the Visa Officer is not equipped to answer on the
basis of a file review and a brief interview with the interested parties. The
question for the Visa Officer is whether the adoption was undertaken for a
purpose other than providing a true home for the child. If it was, it is not in
the best interests of the child.
[26]
The concept of the best interests of the child
is one which has been part of our law for some time, particularly, but not
exclusively, in family law. The question of who is best placed to assess the
best interests of the child arose in Young v. Young, [1993] 4 S.C.R. 3,
[1993] S.C.J. No. 112, a custody and access case where the question of whether
expert evidence was required to assist the Court in identifying the best
interests of a child. While the Supreme Court divided on various issues raised
in that appeal, all the judges agreed that the persons best able to provide
evidence as to a child’s best interests are the parents: see Young, at
paragraphs 156, 185, 236. Interestingly, in discussing the role of the Court in
deciding on the best interests of the child, McLachlin J. (as she then was)
noted that:
Like all legal tests, it [the best interests of the child] is to be
applied according to the evidence in the case, viewed objectively. There is no
room for the judge's personal predilections and prejudices. The judge's duty is
to apply the law. He or she must not do what he or she wants to do but what he
or she ought to do.
(Young, at paragraph 203.)
[27]
What is true for judges must also be true for
visa officers. The Visa Officer obviously had a view as to what she thought was
best for Abreyah. With respect, that was not the question which the Act
required her to answer. That question was whether the adoption was undertaken
for a purpose other than providing her a home where she was wanted and would be
loved. Both the natural mother and the adoptive mother believed that the
adoption was in Abreyah’s best interests. Those views, even though expressed in
terms which the Visa Officer found wanting, were entitled to consideration.
[28]
Given that Abreyah would require care and
nurturing for a number of years, it is difficult to see how or why Ms Young
would accept that burden if she was not truly concerned with Abreyah’s welfare.
In my view, the Visa Officer’s decision on this element was unreasonable
because it did not consider the meaning of paragraph 5.1(1)(a) of the Act
in the context of the statutory purpose, and focussed instead on her own view
of what was in Abreyah’s best interest. This is an instance of the principle,
discussed above, that assessing reasonableness requires looking past the
obvious. On the surface, the Visa Officer’s conclusions as to the best
interests of the child are reasonable; it is only when one digs a little deeper
into the statutory scheme that the problem comes into focus and the
unreasonableness of the Visa Officer’s conclusion becomes apparent.
[29]
The Visa Officer refused Abreyah’s citizenship
application on the further ground that the adoption was entered into for the
purpose of acquiring status or privilege in relation to immigration or
citizenship, contrary to paragraph 5.1(1)(d) of the Act. In her
notes, the Visa Officer indicates that she came to that conclusion because Ms
Pope, and Ms Young gave inconsistent and contradictory answers to the question
as to how the decision to adopt was arrived at. In the Visa Officer’s view, “this was not a decision about relationships and parenting
but about the benefits of Canadian citizenship”: see Appeal Book at page
118. Later in her notes, the Visa Officer concludes “I
am of the opinion that the adoption was entered into in order to provide the
child access to Canada’s generous health care and education systems”:
see Appeal Book at page 118.
[30]
The mere fact of enabling a child to benefit
from Canada’s “generous” health and education
systems is not an indication of an adoption of convenience. Something more is
required. If, for example, the natural parents of the child agree to assume all
the costs related to the care of the child and the adoptive parents essentially
treat the child as a boarder, then one could speak of an adoption of
convenience. But where the adoptive parents intend to fully assume their
obligation to care for and nurture the adopted child, the fact that the child
will have access to the same health and education systems as other Canadians is
not a reason to conclude that the adoption is an adoption of convenience.
[31]
Without limiting the scope of “for the purpose of acquiring a status or privilege in
relation to immigration or citizenship” to the facts of the Davis
case discussed earlier in these reasons, the latter provides an example of the
type of situation which paragraph 5.1(1)(d) was intended to catch.
[32]
Awareness of the material advantages which will
accrue to a child as a result of an adoption does not necessarily lead to the
conclusion that the adoption is entered into primarily to provide the
child with those material advantages. This is particularly true in the case of
adoption of young children who will require care and nurturing for an extended
period of time. A genuine commitment on the part of the adoptive parents to
provide that care and nurturing militates against the conclusion that the
adoption was entered into primarily for the purpose of gaining an
advantage or a privilege with respect to citizenship or immigration.
[33]
In this case, the Visa Officer was very much
influenced by the inconsistent answers as to how the decision to adopt was
reached. In some cases, inconsistent answers may affect the credibility of the
applicant and give reasons to disbelieve an applicant’s assertions and
explanations which, if explained in reasons, could justify rejecting an
application. But, in a case like this where the Visa Officer’s decision was a
product of irrelevant factors, the decision cannot stand.
[34]
In the circumstances, I find that the Visa
Officer’s conclusion on the issue of whether the adoption was entered into for
the purpose of acquiring a status or privilege in relation to immigration or
citizenship was unreasonable because the factors upon which she relied could
not logically support the conclusion to which she came.
[35]
The final ground on which the Visa Officer
refused the application for citizenship was that she had not been convinced
that the adoption created a genuine relationship of parent and child, as
required by paragraph 5.1(1)(b) of the Act. The Visa Officer
based her decision on the lack of visits by Ms Young, and the lack of “any effort to establish a bond with the child at this very tender
age”: see Appeal Book at page 116. I take it from this that the Visa
Officer interpreted the Act to require that a genuine parent-child
relationship exist prior to the adoption.
[36]
Since paragraph 5.1(1)(c) of the Act
requires that the adoption be in accordance with the laws of the place where
the adoption took place, paragraph 5.1(1)(b) cannot be directed to the
question of whether there was a legally valid adoption as this would create a
redundancy as between the two paragraphs. The issue raised by paragraph 5.1(1)(b)
is the link between the adoption and the relationship between the child and the
adoptive parent, specifically whether there is a “genuine”
relationship of parent and child between them.
[37]
The Act applies to all adoptions of minor
children, without regard to their ages. It is difficult to know how one could
find a genuine parent-child relationship in the case of the adoption of an
infant when parent and child meet each other for the first time when the
parents attend in the foreign country to take the child into their care.
Clearly, there is no pre-existing relationship between those parents and that
child. Any genuine parent-child relationship will develop over time as the
parties live with each other. As a result, it is unlikely that Parliament meant
to impose the obligation that there be a pre-existing relationship between
parent and child as a condition of granting Canadian citizenship.
[38]
Once again, this condition must be examined in
the light of the statutory objectives. It would substantially defeat the
objective of the legislation if, in every case, the adoptive parents had to
demonstrate an existing parent-child relationship in order to satisfy paragraph
5.1(1)(b). How long would parents who adopted a newborn infant have to
live with that infant in its country of birth so as to establish the existence
of a genuine parent-child relationship? What kind of emotional attachment would
be required to satisfy this condition? Could this condition be satisfied
without a longstanding prior relationship between the adoptive parents and the
adopted child? These questions demonstrate the difficulty of attempting to
assess the quality of the parent-child relationship with young children at the
time of the citizenship application.
[39]
Paragraph 5.1(1)(b) does not require the
adoptive parent to pass an emotional litmus test. It is designed to deal with
the situation described earlier where the adoptive parents would essentially
operate as a boarding house for their adopted child with the natural parents
continuing to meet the child’s material needs. This type of situation is more
likely where the child is older and more able to function independently. The
condition is best understood in the negative: is there reason to believe that
the adoption will not, in the future, result in a genuine parent-child
relationship?
[40]
In Perera v. Canada (Minister of Citizenship
and Immigration), 2001 FCT 1047, [2001] F.C.J. No. 1443 [Perera],
the Federal Court held that the question of whether a genuine parent-child
relationship was created had to be examined in light of the future rather than
the past:
The words "a genuine parent and child relationship being
created as a result of the adoption" are pregnant with significance. They
point to a future relationship to be created, not to the confirmation of a
present situation. An adoption is a forward- looking relationship.
(Perera, at paragraph 16.)
[41]
The Visa Officer was critical of Ms Young for
not visiting Abreyah more often and developing a relationship with her. But
this line of inquiry betrays a misunderstanding of the statutory purpose. There
is no requirement that the parent-child relationship be demonstrable at the
time of the citizenship application. The Visa Officer must be alive to
indications that there is no intention to establish a genuine parent-child
relationship, as opposed to passing judgment on the quality of the current
quality of the relationship. For these reasons, I find that the Visa Officer’s
conclusion on this point was unreasonable.
[42]
If one looks at the Visa Officer’s decision
globally, it is striking for its lack of a narrative thread. In other words,
the Visa Officer’s conclusion that the adoption was primarily for the purpose
of gaining an advantage in immigration or citizenship cannot be integrated into
any credible scenario as to what would happen once Abreyah arrived in Canada as
a citizen. What would Ms Young do with this young child she adopted, apparently
so that she could take advantage of Canada’s generous health and education
systems? Would she pay someone else to look after her? Would she seek to have
her taken into care by the child welfare authorities? Realistically, Ms Young
would have to care for the child herself just as she would have to accept the
costs of raising a young child. Is it reasonable to conclude that a person
would assume these obligations solely for the purpose of immigration fraud? Or,
would a person who assumed these obligations be engaged in immigration fraud? I
think not. This is what distinguishes this case from cases like Davis.
[43]
I would therefore dismiss the appeal.
"J.D. Denis Pelletier"
“I agree
David Stratas J.A.”
“I agree
Mary J.L. Gleason J.A.”
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