Date: 19990708
Docket: IMM-5219-97
Ottawa, Ontario, the 8th day of July 1999
Present: The Honourable Mr. Justice Pinard
Between:
ANDREY SAKIN
SVETLANA SAKINA
LIOUDMILA SAKINA
VAROSLAV SAKINA
Applicants
- and -
MINISTER OF CITIZENSHIP
AND IMMIGRATION
Respondent
ORDER
The application for judicial review of the decision dated November 6, 1997, by the Convention Refugee Determination Division, which determined that the applicants are not Convention refugees, is dismissed.
YVON PINARD
JUDGE
Certified true translation
M. Iveson
Date: 19990708
Docket: IMM-5219-97
Between:
ANDREY SAKIN
SVETLANA SAKINA
LIOUDMILA SAKINA
YAROSLAV SAKINA
Applicants
- and -
MINISTER OF CITIZENSHIP
AND IMMIGRATION
Respondent
REASONS FOR ORDER
PINARD J.:
[1] This is an application for judicial review of a decision dated November 6, 1997, by the Convention Refugee Determination Division, which determined that the applicants, Andrey Sakin, his wife Lioudmila Sakina, their minor son Yaroslav Sakina and Andrey Sakin"s mother Svetlana Sakina, are not Convention refugees.
[2] The panel found that the applicants were not Convention refugees, for the following reasons:
| - the implausibility of the allegation that the applicant Andrey never admitted to his family that he participated in the events of 1986, although that is an essential element of the claim by all of the claimants; |
| - the lack of essential elements in applicant Andrey"s Personal Information Form (PIF) with respect to the additions by the applicant Lioudmila; |
| - the implausibility of the additions in his testimony by the applicant Andrey; |
| - the contradictions identified between Andrey"s and Lioudmila"s PIFs; |
| - the implausibility of the alleged fear, since the applicants left their country to travel for approximately three weeks in Mexico without claiming refugee status there and then returned to Kazakhstan; |
| - the implausibility of Andrey"s allegation that he was persecuted by ultra-nationalists when he testified that he was unaware of the "Azat" movement; |
| - the implausibility of the female applicant"s behaviour when she filed a complaint with the police after she was assaulted, but never took any other steps to learn the outcome of the complaint; |
| - the fact that the events concerning the applicant Svetlana are isolated and that she admitted at the hearing that she left her country to be with her children, as her daughter Natalia is already in Canada; |
| - the lack of reasonable explanation by the applicant Andrey with respect to the contradictory documentary evidence from humanitarian and human rights organizations; |
| - the possibility of an internal flight alternative for the applicants, as the applicant Andrey"s explanations on this issue were found to lack substance and were not credible; |
| - the strong probative value of the documentary evidence. |
[3] Based on the above and the representations of counsel for the applicants, this case turns on the panel"s assessment of the facts. After hearing counsel for the parties and reviewing the evidence, I am not persuaded that the applicants" credibility was not properly assessed (see Rajaratnam v. Canada (M.E.I.) (December 5, 1991), A-824-90 (F.C.A.)). Without necessarily completely endorsing the Refugee Division"s analysis of the evidence, I am nevertheless of the view that it was reasonable for this specialized tribunal to find as it did in light of all of the evidence on the record. Its perception that the applicants were not credible effectively amounts to a finding that there was no credible evidence to support their claim for refugee status (see Aguebor v. M.E.I. (1993), 160 N.R. 315 and Sheik v. Canada (M.E.I.), [1990] 3 F.C. 238, at page 244).
[4] The application for judicial review is accordingly dismissed.
YVON PINARD
JUDGE
OTTAWA, ONTARIO
July 8, 1999
Certified true translation
M. Iveson
FEDERAL COURT OF CANADA
TRIAL DIVISION
NAMES OF COUNSEL AND SOLICITORS OF RECORD
COURT NO.: IMM-5219-97
STYLE OF CAUSE: ANDREY SAKIN et al. v. MCI
PLACE OF HEARING: MONTRÉAL, QUEBEC
DATE OF HEARING: JUNE 2, 1999
REASONS FOR ORDER OF PINARD J.
DATED
APPEARANCES:
MICHEL LE BRUN
FOR THE APPLICANTS
JOCELYNE MURPHY
FOR THE RESPONDENT
SOLICITORS OF RECORD:
MICHEL LE BRUN
FOR THE APPLICANTS
JOCELYNE MURPHY
Morris Rosenberg FOR THE RESPONDENT
Deputy Attorney General of Canada