Date: 19980528
Docket: T-1819-97
IN THE MATTER OF the Citizenship Act,
R.S.C., 1985, c. C-29.
AND IN THE MATTER OF an appeal from the
decision of a Citizenship Judge
AND IN THE MATTER OF
JIHAN AL-THIB
Appellant.
REASONS FOR JUDGMENT
JOYAL, J.
[1] The appellant is a native of Syria, born some 60 years ago. Her father, also a Syrian, was an adjutant with the French Army, Syria being at the time a French Protectorate.
[2] The appellant was 17 years old when the French left Syria and the family had to seek refuge in Lebanon. She later married, bore six children and emigrated to Canada with her husband and family in 1990. She became a landed immigrant in 1993.
[3] The appellant has never been to school. She speaks the Arabic language, but can neither read nor write in any language. In her early years, she was limited to doing domestic chores. Also, in the years following her marriage in 1958 up until her arrival in Canada in 1990, she was left alone in Lebanon to raise a growing family, her husband having had to take employment in Cyprus in order to provide for the family.
[4] Although illiterate, the appellant nonetheless was able to instill in her children the values of discipline, thrift, hard work and love of learning. Today, one of her children is a law graduate, two others are engineers, one is a graduate in communications, and another is attending Sherbrooke University.
[5] The appellant was also able to survive a serious bout of cervical cancer. This, according to her daughter, is probably the cause of the appellant's intermittent deficient memory symptoms.
[6] It is the view of the amicus curiae, after questioning the appellant at length, that little can be done to help her overcome her language and other deficiencies so as to qualify in these respects for Canadian citizenship. On the other hand, she has devoted, in the true sense of the word, the last 40 years of her life to nurturing and educating her children. She is now surrounded by a warm and grateful family whose members have all become Canadian citizens and extremely well established in Canada. The appellant is a stateless person, having left Syria some 43 years ago, bereft of any travel document She does not bemoan her status, having found in Canada the proper ingredients of peace and security which have proven of such benefit to her family. Nevertheless, she does state, with a tired smile, that she would be most happy with the opportunity of paying a visit to her 87-year old mother in Syria, whom she has not seen in 40 years. It might appear to some that such is an ambition which the Minister would be happy to facilitate.
[7] I have no hesitation in endorsing the recommendation of the amicus curiae by asking the Minister to grant the appellant Canadian citizenship on humanitarian and compassionate grounds. On more technical grounds, however, the appeal must be dismissed.
L-Marcel Joyal
J U D G E
O T T A W A, Ontario
May 28, 1998.
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