Date: 20080407
Docket: IMM-3508-07
Citation: 2008 FC 410
Ottawa, Ontario, April 7,
2008
PRESENT: The Honourable Mr. Justice Phelan
BETWEEN:
GRACE
MASUKU
Applicant
and
THE MINISTER OF CITIZENSHIP
AND
IMMIGRATION
Respondent
REASONS FOR JUDGMENT AND JUDGMENT
I. OVERVIEW
[1]
The
Immigration and Refugee Board (Board) denied the Applicant’s claim for
protection because she did not provide credible or trustworthy evidence to
support her allegations of persecution or the well-foundedness of her fears.
[2]
The
Applicant does not challenge the credibility finding but instead challenged the
Board’s conclusion that she did not fit the risk profile of a perceived
opposition party supporter in Zimbabwe or that of a failed
refugee claimant. The Applicant’s fundamental argument is that the Board
ignored evidence.
II. FACTUAL
BACKGROUND
[3]
The
Applicant is a citizen of Zimbabwe and was 20 years old at
the time of her entry into Canada. Her two sisters successfully claimed
refugee protection in Canada in 2001 and 2003 respectively. They had
claimed that they and their mother were members of the Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC), an opposition group, and as such were persecuted by the ZANU-PF
party forces.
[4]
The
Applicant had stayed behind with her mother when the sisters came to Canada. She claimed
that her mother had been taken away by ZANU-PF officials in 2004 and died under
suspicious circumstances.
[5]
As
part of her refugee claim, the Applicant claimed fear of the ZANU-PF and others
associated with that party. Although she was not a member of MDC, she asserted
that because of her family’s involvement with the MDC, she had been targeted by
the ZANU-PF-backed militia.
III. ANALYSIS
[6]
The
critical difficulty with this judicial review is that the Board’s credibility
findings are unchallenged. Those findings go to both the issues of her
subjective as well as the objective evidence as to the nexus between her claim
and the evidence of risk.
[7]
It
is not evident that the Board ignored critical evidence. It considered the
nexus between the government and ZANU-PF supported groups. The fact that it did
not specifically mention each group, such as the War Veterans, does not
establish that it ignored the evidence that there were several ZANU-PF
supported groups.
[8]
The
Applicant failed to establish a credible connection between herself (or persons
in her like situation) and these groups. The Board specifically drew attention
to this nexus (or absence thereof) in its consideration of the situation of the
Applicant’s sisters.
[9]
The
Applicant failed to show a connection between herself and the risk to others
fitting a specific profile because her evidence lacked the credibility to
establish that she fit that profile.
[10]
As
to the allegation of risk because she is a returning failed refugee, it was a
position that was not advanced before the Board. It would be unreasonable in
this circumstance to impose a duty on the Board to ferret out both the facts
and the arguments to support such an allegation of risk which the Applicant was
not prepared to make.
IV. CONCLUSION
[11]
Therefore,
this judicial review will be dismissed. There is no question for certification.
JUDGMENT
THIS COURT
ORDERS AND ADJUDGES that this
application for judicial review is dismissed.
“Michael
L. Phelan”
FEDERAL COURT
SOLICITORS OF RECORD
DOCKET: IMM-3508-07
STYLE OF CAUSE: GRACE
MASUKU
and
THE
MINISTER OF CITIZENSHIP AND IMMIGRATION
PLACE OF
HEARING: Toronto, Ontario
DATE OF
HEARING: April
1, 2008
REASONS FOR JUDGMENT
AND JUDGMENT: Phelan J.
DATED: April
7, 2008
APPEARANCES:
|
Mr. Michael
Korman
|
FOR THE APPLICANT
|
|
Ms. A. Leena
Jaakkimainen
|
FOR THE RESPONDENT
|
SOLICITORS
OF RECORD:
|
OTIS &
KORMAN
Barristers
& Solicitors
Toronto, Ontario
|
FOR THE APPLICANT
|
|
MR. JOHN H.
SIMS, Q.C.
Deputy
Attorney General of Canada
Toronto,
Ontario
|
FOR THE RESPONDENT
|
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