Date: 19990111
Docket: IMM-213-98
BETWEEN:
JAGJIT SINGH BRAR
Applicant
- and -
THE MINISTER OF CITIZENSHIP AND IMMIGRATION
Respondent
REASONS FOR ORDER
ROTHSTEIN J.:
[1] The panel's decision does not satisfy me that it had regard for the psychological evidence before it.
[2] I would observe, however, that psychological assessments, while in some cases relevant, may not be accorded significant weight by a panel. This may especially be the case when Internal Flight Alternative (IFA) is the issue. If, apart from a psychological assessment, a panel concludes that an applicant has a valid IFA, a psychological assessment based on an applicant's past experiences in his or her country of origin, may affect the IFA finding only in a "tiny minority" of cases. See Singh v. M.C.I. (1995), 97 F.T.R. 139, per Richard J. (as he then was).
[3] The judicial review is allowed and the matter is remitted to a different panel of the CRDD for redetermination.
Marshall Rothstein
J U D G E
OTTAWA, ONTARIO
JANUARY 11, 1999