Date: 20000420
Docket: IMM-2629-99
Between:
JESUS ENRIQUE CORNEJO COLORADO
Applicant,
- and -
THE MINISTER OF CITIZENSHIP AND IMMIGRATION
Respondent.
REASONS FOR ORDER
NADON j.
[1] These reasons concern an application for judicial review of a decision of the Convention Refugee Determination Division ("the Refugee Division") rendered on April 6, 1999, according to which the claimant is not a Convention refugee, as defined by section 2(1) of the Immigration Act.
[2] The applicant, a citizen of Venezuela, declares that he has a well-founded fear of persecution based on his political opinions. The applicant was involved, with his former father-in-law Armando Milian Sanchez, in a movement to combat environmental pollution, and he alleges that his activities resulted in his being attacked on a number of occasions. For example, he indicates that in January 1994, he was beaten by four unknown individuals while he was distributing pamphlets denouncing the practices of a company that was contaiminating the environment. He went to the police station, but he did not file a complaint because some of his attackers were present. He became frightened, and left. After this attack, Mr. Sanchez invited the applicant to his home, to rest during his convalescence. While convalescing, the applicant organized demonstrations, communications sessions on the radio and information conferences. One evening, on March 16, 1995 during a meeting at the home of Mr. Sanchez, the house was machine-gunned. After that, someone left a box containing a cow's tongue cut into pieces, and on May 10, 1995, an individual on a motorcycle tried to run over the applicant. Fearing that he would be killed, the applicant left for Canada, where he claimed refugee status on September 9, 1995.
[3] The Refugee Division considered the applicant's claim together with the claim of his former father-in-law, Mr. Sanchez, and his family.1 The Refugee Division found that Mr. Sanchez was entirely lacking in credibility, and dismissed all the claims. In particular, the Refugee Division did not like the fact that Mr. Sanchez had not mentioned, in his Personal Information Form (PIF), that his house had been machine-gunned, and only added this detail one year later:
| The panel thus has serious doubts about the authenticity of this incident, for it is reasonable to think, given his importance and the decisive role he seems to have played in the claimant's decision to come to Canada, that if this incident really happened, the claimant would surely have mentioned it in his very first PIF. |
[4] Regarding the applicant in the case at bar, the Refugee Division summed up his account, noting that he supplied his own answer to Question 37 of his PIF,2 and found as follows:
| The case of Jesus Enrique Cornejo Colorado must now be considered. Although the claimant produced an account separate from that of the principal claimant, his case is nonetheless linked to that of the principal claimant. The claimant Jesus Enrique Cornejo Colorado states that if he has to return to his country, he will have problems because he took part in the activities of the group of the claimant Armando Milian Sanchez. He says that he was beaten on one occasion by unknown individuals while he was distributing pamphlets for the organization, but that what motivated him to leave his country was the incident of March 16, 1995, when there was a machine-gun attack on Armando's home. However, this is an incident that we have already stated to be not credible, as reported by the principal claimant. We have simply not believed him. |
| As in the other cases, we find that the claimant has not succeeded in establishing the existence of a reasonable possibility of persecution if he returned to his country, as the term "reasonable possibility" is understood in the Adjei decision. |
[5] In my opinion and in light of the evidence, this finding on the part of the Refugee Division is not unreasonable. Having found that Armando Milian Sanchez was not credible, more particularly in regard to the incident of March 16, 1995, the Refugee Division was entitled to find, as it did, that Mr. Colorado had not discharged his burden of proving that there was a reasonable possibility of persecution if he had to return to his country.
[6] As the Refugee Division noted, Mr. Colorado's case could not be considered separately from that of Mr. Sanchez. In other words, the finding of lack of credibility in respect of Mr. Sanchez's evidence and testimony could only have a negative impact on Mr. Colorado's claim.
[7] Unfortunately for the applicant, he has not convinced me that the Refugee Division committed an error that would justify my intervention. For these reasons, his application for judicial review will be dismissed.
[8] The applicant is proposing the following question for certification:
| In light of the Pushpanathan and Baker decisions, is the standard of judicial review of decisions rendered by the Immigration and Refugee Board in regard to questions of fact, or questions of mixed law and fact, at present that of the manifestly unreasonable decision or that of the simply reasonable decision? |
[9] For the reasons that I stated in my decision concerning the application for judicial review made by Mr. Sanchez and his family (File No. IMM-2631-99), I find that there is no reason to certify the question proposed by the applicant in the case at bar.
Marc Nadon
Judge
OTTAWA, Ontario
April 20, 2000
Certified true translation
Martine Brunet, LL.B.
Date: 20000420
Docket: IMM-2629-99
OTTAWA, ONTARIO, THIS 20th DAY OF APRIL 2000
Present: THE HONOURABLE JUSTICE MARC NADON
Between:
JESUS ENRIQUE CORNEJO COLORADO
Applicant,
And:
THE MINISTER OF CITIZENSHIP AND IMMIGRATION
Respondent.
ORDER
The application for judicial review is dismissed.
Marc Nadon
Judge
Certified true translation
Martine Brunet, LL.B.
FEDERAL COURT OF CANADA
TRIAL DIVISION
NAMES OF COUNSEL AND OF SOLICITORS OF RECORD
COURT FILE No.: IMM-2629-99
STYLE OF CAUSE: JESUS ENRIQUE CORNEJO COLORARDO v. MCI
PLACE OF HEARING: MONTREAL, QUEBEC
DATE OF HEARING: 28-MAR-2000
REASONS FOR THE ORDER OF NADON J.
DATE: 20-APR-2000
APPEARANCES:
Mr. ALAIN JOFFE
FOR APPLICANT
Mr. CLAUDE PROVENCHER
FOR RESPONDENT
SOLICITORS OF RECORD:
Mr. ALAIN JOFFE
FOR APPLICANT
Mr. MORRIS ROSENBERG FOR RESPONDENT
Deputy Attorney General of Canada
__________________
1 Mr. Sanchez has made an application for judicial review under File Number IMM-2631-99.
2 All the other claimants (i.e., the wife, children and mother-in-law of Mr. Sanchez, and his wife's niece) based their claims on that of Mr. Sanchez.
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