Date:  20090526

Docket:  IMM-4946-08

Citation:  2009 FC 540

Ottawa, Ontario, May 26, 2009

PRESENT: The Honourable Mr. Justice Shore 

BETWEEN:

KARINE HAYRAPETYAN

Applicant

and

THE MINISTER OF CITIZENSHIP

AND IMMIGRATION

Respondent

REASONS FOR JUDGMENT AND JUDGMENT

[1]               This is an application for judicial review of a decision dated October 6, 2008, by the Refugee Protection Division of the Immigration and Refugee Board (Board), that the applicant is not a Convention refugee or a person in need of protection under section 96 and subsection 97(1) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, S.C. 2001, c. 27 (IRPA).

[2]               The applicant alleges a fear of persecution as the mother of a son who is a conscientious objector in Armenia. Her son arrived in Canada in 1999 and obtained refugee status, and then permanent resident status. The Board found that the applicant was not credible and that she did not risk being persecuted if she were to return to Armenia.

[3]               Without having discussed the crux of the claim, the Board focused on detail rather than on the central events of the claim.

[4]               This conclusion seems to us to be necessary because of the excessively laconic nature of the reasons. The Board found certain elements in the claimant's account of the events which prompted him to flee his country to seek refuge elsewhere to be hard to believe, and it is the role of the Board to make that judgment. However, the Board did not say whether its finding that the claimant was not credible led it to reject completely the claimant's assertions as to the genuineness of his fear, let alone, it would appear, how it led to this overall rejection of his testimony. In our view, this is where the inadequacy of the reasons becomes apparent and makes it inevitable that this Court must intervene.

(Pour v. Canada (Minister of Employment and Immigration), [1991] F.C.J. No. 1282 (QL) (F.C.A.)).

[5]               Given the foregoing, the application for judicial review will therefore be allowed, the impugned decision set aside and the matter referred back to the Refugee Protection Division for reconsideration (de novo) by a differently constituted panel.

JUDGMENT

THE COURT ORDERS that the application for judicial review be allowed, that the impugned decision be set aside and that the matter be referred back to the Refugee Protection Division for reconsideration (de novo) by a differently constituted panel.

“Michel M.J. Shore”

Certified true translation

Janine Anderson, Translator

FEDERAL COURT

SOLICITORS OF RECORD

DOCKET:                                          IMM-4946-08

STYLE OF CAUSE:                          KARINE HAYRAPETYAN

                                                            v. THE MINISTER OF CITIZENSHIP

                                                            AND IMMIGRATION

PLACE OF HEARING:                    Montréal, Quebec

DATE OF HEARING:                      May 20, 2009

REASONS FOR JUDGMENT

AND JUDGMENT:                          SHORE J.

DATED:                                             May 26, 2009

APPEARANCES:

SOLICITORS OF RECORD: