Ottawa, Ontario, November 24, 2006
BETWEEN:
and
AND IMMIGRATION
REASONS FOR ORDER AND ORDER
[1] Osama Abdalla is a Kuwaiti-born stateless Palestinian, now thirty-five years of age. He spent the first twenty years of his life studying in Kuwait. Since 1991, he has lived some twelve years in the United States of America, except for a three-year stay in Ramallah in Palestine between 1997 and 2000. In 2004, he sought refugee status in Canada.
[2] Mr. Abdalla’s refugee claim is to seek refuge in Canada based on a fear of persecution upon his return to Palestine. His personal information form describes the attempt in 1997 by the Palestinian political party Hamas to recruit him as a member:
One day on the streets of Ramalla around November or December, 1997, in the middle of the day, I was approached by two men who identified themselves as Hamas members. They asked me to join their group. I refused and after that I lived in perpetual fear that Hamas would punish me for not joining their cause. I am opposed to any use of violence to address the Palestinian issue.
[3] Neither his oral testimony nor his personal information form refers to any other incidents with Hamas. In his interview with an officer of the Canada Border Services Agency in May 2005, Mr. Abdalla mentioned that he had been recruited “once directly and a few times through people I know.” The transcript of the refugee hearing includes some 120 pages, with less than five complete pages dealing with his fear of persecution from Hamas.
[4] The thirteen-page negative decision of the Refugee Protection Division deals with two contradictions in the applicant’s presentation to support his refugee claim, reviews the basis of his claim and considers in some detail certain issues concerning his links with Jordan. In the concluding paragraphs of the decision, the member of the Refugee Protection Division stated:
It was brought to the attention of the claimant that there has been a change of the government in Palestine due to the recent elections. The claimant states that he was very much aware of that, but if he were to return now to Palestine, he would fear HAMAS who have been successful in recent elections.
The claimant stated in 1997 he was approached by HAMAS members who encouraged the claimant to join their group. He states since that date while he was still residing in Palestine he was asked a couple of other times by individuals to consider joining the HAMAS and he always refused stating that he was opposed to their violent tactics.
I have no reason to accept the claimant having a well-founded fear of being forcibly recruited by individuals connected to the HAMAS if he returned to Palestine. This group won the most recent election and I am not persuaded that they would be currently forcibly recruiting individuals such as this claimant to their organization.
[emphasis added]
[5] The applicant’s principal challenge against the decision of the Refugee Protection Division is that its reasons were inadequate. Counsel relied on the leading cases which enunciate the basic principle that reasons that are well-articulated will foster better decision-making and will provide the parties with the assurance that their representations have been considered: Via Rail Canada Inc. v. Lemonde, [2000] F.C.J. No. 1685 (Q.L.) (C.A.) at paras. 17, 18 and 21; and Canada (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration) v. Ryjkov, 2005 FC 1540 at paras. 19 and 22.
[6] In my view, the tribunal’s reasons in the particular circumstances of this case are adequate. The applicant’s evidence concerning the basis of his fear from the Hamas was brief and thin. The reasons for decision cannot be read without regard to the context of the hearing, a review of the transcript and a consideration of the decision in its entirety. It was open to the Refugee Protection Division, on the basis of the limited evidence presented by the claimant, to conclude that in the context of early 2006, a short time after the Palestinian elections in January 2006, that Hamas would not be forcibly recruiting an individual such as Mr. Abdalla to its political organization.
[7] It might have been salutary for the Refugee Protection Division to note that the applicant had encountered no further incidents with Hamas during his three-year stay in Palestine after the initial recruitment in 1997 and that he failed to make a refugee claim during his years in the U.S.A. However, its failure to do so does not constitute a reviewable error. In short, the reasons are adequate in the context of the evidence presented in this case.
[8] Accordingly, this application for judicial review will be dismissed. Neither party suggested the certification of a serious question.
ORDER
THIS COURT ORDERS that this application for judicial review is dismissed.
FEDERAL COURT
SOLICITORS OF RECORD
DOCKET: IMM-2093-06
STYLE OF CAUSE: OSAMA ABDALLA v. MCI
PLACE OF HEARING: Vancouver, BC
DATE OF HEARING: November 14, 2006
APPEARANCES:
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Mr. Shane Molyneaux
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Ms. Marjan Double
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SOLICITORS OF RECORD:
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Elgin, Cannon & Associates Vancouver, BC
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Mr. John H. Simms, Q.C. Deputy Attorney General of Canada
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