Date: 20040506
Docket: IMM-5046-03
Citation: 2004 FC 671
Toronto, Ontario, May 6th, 2004
Present: The Honourable Mr. Justice Campbell
BETWEEN:
DIANA JAMES
Applicant
and
THE MINISTER OF CITIZENSHIP AND IMMIGRATION
Respondent
REASONS FOR ORDER AND ORDER
[1] In the present case, the Applicant claims refugee status on the basis of subjective and objective fear of risk of persecution on gender grounds by her stepfather in St. Vincent. In support of her claim, the Applicant provided in her PIF a detailed account of horrendous sexual, physical and psychological abuse by him beginning when she was age 13. On her evidence, there were two incidents of sexual abuse: the first in 1989, and the second in 1991 when she was age 15 and just prior to her flight to Canada.
[2] The IRB rejected the Applicant's claim on a negative credibility finding for only two reasons: a perceived discrepancy in the dates of the sexual assaults found between the Applicant's testimony at the hearing and her PIF; and a rejection of the Applicant's explanation for failing to file for refugee status for ten years after she arrived in Canada.
[3] Given that there are only two narrow reasons given for disbelieving the detailed account of persecution supplied by the Applicant, in my opinion, if either are proved to be erroneous, the decision is patently unreasonable. In my opinion, this is so.
[4] On a detailed examination of the transcript of the hearing before the IRB, I find it is impossible to come to the discrepancy conclusion the IRB reached; the conclusion reached is based on a misunderstanding of the evidence.
ORDER
Accordingly, I set aside the IRB's decision and refer this matter to a differently constituted panel for redetermination.
"Douglas R. Campbell"
J.F.C.
FEDERAL COURT
Names of Counsel and Solicitors of Record
DOCKET: IMM-5046-03
STYLE OF CAUSE: DIANA JAMES
Applicant
and
THE MINISTER OF CITIZENSHIP AND IMMIGRATION
Respondent
PLACE OF HEARING: TORONTO, ONTARIO
DATE OF HEARING: MAY 6, 2004
REASONS FOR ORDER
AND ORDER BY: CAMPBELL J.
APPEARANCES BY:
Mr. Kingsley Jesuorobo
FOR THE APPLICANT
Mr. Robert Bafaro
FOR THE RESPONDENT
SOLICITORS OF RECORD:
Mr. Kingsley Jesuorobo
North York, Ontario
FOR THE APPLICANT
Morris Rosenberg
Deputy Attorney General of Canada
FOR THE RESPONDENT
FEDERAL COURT
Date: 20040506
Docket: IMM-5046-03
BETWEEN:
DIANA JAMES
Applicant
and
THE MINISTER OF CITIZENSHIP AND IMMIGRATION
Respondent
REASONS FOR ORDER
AND ORDER