Date: 20040525
Docket: IMM-2956-03
Citation: 2004 FC 764
Toronto, Ontario, May 25th, 2004
Present: The Honourable Mr. Justice von Finckenstein
BETWEEN:
HASAN TURKKAN
Applicant
and
THE MINISTER OF CITIZENSHIP AND IMMIGRATION
Respondent
REASONS FOR ORDER AND ORDER
(Delivered orally from the bench and subsequently written for clarification and precision)
[1] This is an application for judicial review of the decision of the Refugee Protection Division of the Immigration and Refugee Board (the "Board") dated March 28th, 2003 that the applicant is neither a Convention Refugee nor a Person in Need of Protection.
[2] The applicant is a 30 year old man from Turkey. As a youth he attended an Islamic Imam Hatip middle school. As a result of his association with the school and his religious practices, he claims that he began to face persecution from his employer, a Turkish crown corporation, and the Turkish police, following a campaign against supporters of Islam commenced by the government in 1997.
[3] The Minister concedes that there was no basis for the Board finding that he did not Islamic Imam Hatip middle school, this is not borne out by the record. Thus the Board clearly erred in one key point.
[4] However the Board made several other findings: It found
-that the overall credibility of the applicant was low, his answers general and his answers off the mark ( p.3 of the decision)
- that he provided no evidence of a law or directive that graduates of Islamic Hatip schools be removed from the record. (P. 7 of the decision). The Board is entitled to presume such law does not exist when not produced. See Adu v. Canada (M.E.I.) 1995 F C J No 114 at para 1.
- that there is contradiction between the documentary evidence and his testimony in respect of arrests and detention ( p. 9 of the decision)
-that there is contradiction between the documentary evidence and his testimony in respect of his wife's visit to the US (p 10 of the decision)
- that it not believe that applicant, a university graduate and a former civil servant was unable to find out about US asylum rules (p. 10 of the decision)
[5] The Board also made the key finding that the Applicant had applied for reinstatement to his old job and by his own admission would have gone back, if he had been reinstated. (P. 301 of tribunal record). The Board therefore came to the fully justified conclusion that a person who is willing to go back , if reinstated is an economic refugee and not a person with well founded fear of persecution.
[6] While the Board made an error in its finding in respect of the Islamic Imam Hatip Middle School this was not a patently unreasonable finding in light of the somewhat confusing testimony of the applicant. Patently unreasonable has been equated with clearly irrational ( See Canada (A.G. v. Public Service Alliance of Canada [19941] at para 46. The decision here while not fully supported by the evidence was not clearly irrational.
[7] On the basis of its credibility findings and the evidence of reinstatement it was not patently unreasonable for the Board to reach the conclusion it did.
[8] Consequently this application will be dismissed.
ORDER
This court orders that this application is hereby dismissed.
"K. von Finckenstein"
J.F.C.
FEDERAL COURT
Names of Counsel and Solicitors of Record
DOCKET: IMM-2956-03
STYLE OF CAUSE: HASAN TURKKAN
Applicant
and
THE MINISTER OF CITIZENSHIP AND
IMMIGRATION
Respondent
PLACE OF HEARING: TORONTO, ONTARIO
DATE OF HEARING: MAY 25, 2004
REASONS FOR ORDER
AND ORDER BY: VON FINCKENSTEIN J.
DATED: MAY 25, 2004
APPEARANCES BY:
Alex Billingsley For the Applicant
Greg George For the Respondent
SOLICITORS OF RECORD:
Cintosun & Associates
Toronto, ON For the Applicant
Morris Rosenberg
Deputy Attorney General of Canada
For the Respondent
FEDERAL COURT
Date: 20040525
Docket: IMM-2956-03
BETWEEN:
HASAN TURKKAN
Applicant
and
THE MINISTER OF CITIZENSHIP AND IMMIGRATION
Respondent
REASONS FOR ORDER
AND ORDER
Email this Content