Date: 20030506
Docket: IMM-5683-02
Neutral citation: 2003 FCT 564
Toronto, Ontario, Tuesday, the 6th day of May, 2003
Present: The Honourable Mr. Justice Campbell
BETWEEN:
EMAN SAID AHMED
Applicant
- and -
THE MINISTER
OF CITIZENSHIP AND IMMIGRATION
Respondent
REASONS FOR ORDER AND ORDER
[1] This is an application for judicial review of the decision of the Refugee Protection Division of the Immigration and Refugee Board ("RPD"), dated October 30, 2002, wherein the RPD determined that the Applicant is not a Convention Refugee.
[2] The Applicant, a citizen of Sudan, claims a well-founded fear of persecution on the basis of her membership in the Sudanese Women's Union ("SWU") which she joined in 1986. The Applicant testified that her activism advancing women's equality with the SWU led to numerous confrontations with the authorities, resulting in her being arrested numerous times, and while in custody being subject to abuse, including torture. As a result of the persecution she received at the hands of Sudanese government, the Applicant left Sudan on March 10th, 2001, and filed a refugee claim upon arrival in Canada on March 13th, 2001.
[3] Despite the presentation of detailed evidence of persecution by the Sudanese government, the Applicant was disbelieved by the RPD. An essential element of the complete dismissal of the Applicant's evidence by the RPD is a finding that the organization to which the Applicant belonged while in Sudan was a "pro-government organization".
[4] This pivotal finding of fact made by the RPD is based on a research brief produced by the RPD's Research Directorate (Tribunal Record, p. 88). In the course of the RPD hearing, the Applicant produced evidence and her counsel argued that the research brief exhibits a fundamental misunderstanding of the fact that, in Sudan at the time, two organizations existed with essentially identical names: hers being a long standing private non-governmental organization which strongly held the government responsible for the unequal treatment of women; and another being a more recent pro-government creation for allegedly the same purpose. Nevertheless, without further careful investigation, the RPD chose to make its determination on the basis of the assailed research brief.
[5] To say the least, in my opinion, a careful reading of the whole of the research brief relied upon by the RPD, and, in particular, the obvious conflicting statements of evidence it contains, simply cannot support the conclusion reached by the RPD.
[6] While the Applicant produced numerous other cogent and well supported arguments for why the RPD's decision should be set aside on both a due process and substantive grounds basis, I find that the RPD's mistake of fact as described above, on its own, renders the RPD's decision as patently unreasonable.
ORDER
Accordingly, the RPD's decision is set aside and the matter is referred back to a differently constituted panel for redetermination.
"Douglas R. Campbell"
J.F.C.C.
FEDERAL COURT OF CANADA
TRIAL DIVISION
Names of Counsel and Solicitors of Record
DOCKET: IMM-5683-02
STYLE OF CAUSE: EMAN SAID AHMED
Applicant
- and -
THE MINISTER OF CITIZENSHIP AND IMMIGRATION
Respondent
PLACE OF HEARING: TORONTO, ONTARIO
DATE OF HEARING: TUESDAY, MAY 6, 2003
REASONS FOR ORDER
AND ORDER BY: CAMPBELL J.
APPEARANCES BY: Mr. Randal Montgomery
For the Applicant
Mr. Lorne McClenaghan
For the Respondent
SOLICITORS OF RECORD: Mr. Randal Montgomery
Barrister & Solicitor
2965 Kingston Road, #2-K
Cliffcrest Plaza Executive Centre
Toronto, Ontario
M1M 1P1
For the Applicant
Morris Rosenberg
Deputy Attorney General of Canada
For the Respondent
FEDERAL COURT OF CANADA
Date: 20030506
Docket: IMM-5683-02
BETWEEN:
EMAN SAID AHMED
Applicant
- and -
THE MINISTER OF CITIZENSHIP AND IMMIGRATION
Respondent
REASONS FOR ORDER
AND ORDER