Date: 19990917
Docket: T-2208-97
B E T W E E N :
IN THE MATTER OF the Citizenship Act
R.S.C. 1985 CHAPTER C-29
AND IN THE MATTER OF an appeal from the
decision of A Citizenship Judge
AND IN THE MATTER OF,
Chen Hwa Chang,
Appellant.
REASONS FOR JUDGMENT
(Rendered from the Bench at Montréal, Québec
Thursday, February 19, 1998)
HUGESSEN J.
[1] This appeal raises once again the question of residence under paragraph 5.1(c) of the Citizenship Act. While the text of that provision does not require actual physical presence in Canada during the period of three years, any absences from Canada should be wholly consistent with Canada being the place where the applicant truly resides and where his life centres.
[2] In the present case the applicant came to Canada from Taiwan as a landed immigrant in August of 1993. Over the ensuing four years he was absent from Canada for a total of 961 days. He was present in Canada for only 158 days. Looked at another way, his absences from Canada, 13 in all, varied in length from 30 to 161 days; his presences here were of lengths from 4 to 37 days.
[3] Notwithstanding that, the appellant has over the four-year period since his arrival established increasingly solid ties with Canada, purchasing properties here and establishing his family in this country, so that I have no doubt that he is now a resident of Canada, I cannot be satisfied that he had acquired, at the time of his Application for Citizenship, three years of residence in the preceding four years.
[4] His many and frequent trips to Taiwan, although no doubt made for good reasons, such as, the sale of his house, the winding up of his restaurant business and the need to spend time visiting with and caring for his dying mother, are, in my view, simply incompatible with his having established residence here from the time of his arrival.
[5] Accordingly, the appeal will be dismissed.
"James K. Hugessen"
Judge
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