Date: 19980731
Docket: IMM-237-98
BETWEEN:
THE MINISTER OF CITIZENSHIP AND IMMIGRATION
Applicant
- and -
DANIEL OLUWAFEMI ASAOLU
Respondent
REASONS FOR ORDER AND ORDER
CAMPBELL, J.
[1] This case concerns the application of the concept of refugee sur place, which according to the UNHCR1 Handbook is defined as follows:
| 94. The requirement that a person must be outside his country to be a refugee does not mean that he must necessarily have left that country illegally, or even that he must have left it on account of well-founded fear. He may have decided to ask for recognition of his refugee status after having already been abroad for some time. A person who was not a refugee when he left his country, but who becomes a refugee at a later date, is called a refugee sur place. |
| 95. A person becomes a refugee sur place due to circumstances arising in his country of origin during his absence. Diplomats and other officials serving abroad, prisoners of war, students, migrant workers and others have applied for refugee status during their residence abroad and have been recognized as refugees. |
| 96. A person may become a refugee "sur place" as a result of his own actions, such as associating with refugees already recognized, or expressing his political views in his country of residence. Whether such actions are sufficient to justify a well-founded fear of persecution must be determined by a careful examination of the circumstances. Regard should be had in particular to whether such actions may have come to the notice of the authorities of the person's country of origin and how they are likely to be viewed by those authorities. [Emphasis added] |
[2] The importance of the refugee sur place concept arises from the fact that in this case, prior to the hearing before the CRDD, Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) sent the claimant's story and photograph to a visa officer in Lagos Nigeria to facilitate an investigation of the respondent's claim of persecution in that country. The issue on this judicial review is whether the actions taken on the investigation meet the UNHCR test, and in particular the portion italicized in the quotation above.
[3] The CRDD concluded that the respondent was a refugee sur place on the basis of the evidence it had but it would have liked to have had more information regarding the circumstance of the investigation. However, CIC failed to comply with the requests for information regarding what transpired in Nigeria when CIC investigated the respondent. Without this evidence, the CRDD relied on the respondent's evidence and evidence regarding the country conditions in Nigeria and found as follows:
| Given the abysmal human rights conditions that exists in Nigeria today, it is reasonable for the panel to conclude that on a balance of probabilities, and given CIC's failure to provide information regarding how they conducted their investigation of the claimant in Nigeria, that the claimant has established that he is a refugee sur place. |
[4] In my opinion, the CRDD made no reviewable error in coming to this conclusion. Accordingly, this application is dismissed.
"Douglas R. Campbell"
Judge
Toronto, Ontario
July 31, 1998
FEDERAL COURT OF CANADA
Names of Counsel and Solicitors of Record
COURT NO: IMM-237-98
| STYLE OF CAUSE: THE MINISTER OF CITIZENSHIP AND IMMIGRATION |
- and -
| DANIEL OLUWAFEMI ASAOLU |
DATE OF HEARING: THURSDAY, JULY 30, 1998
PLACE OF HEARING: TORONTO, ONTARIO
REASONS FOR ORDER BY: CAMPBELL, J.
DATED: FRIDAY, JULY 31, 1998
APPEARANCES:
Ms. Susan Nucci
For the Applicant
Mr. Laurence M. Cohen
For the Respondent
SOLICITORS OF RECORD:
George Thomson
Deputy Attorney General
of Canada
For the Applicant
| Laurence M. Cohen |
Barrister & Solicitor
902-347 Bay Street
Toronto, Ontario
M5H 2R7
For the Respondent
FEDERAL COURT OF CANADA
Date: 19980731
Docket: IMM-237-98
Between:
| THE MINISTER OF CITIZENSHIP AND IMMIGRATION |
Applicant
- and -
| DANIEL OLUWAFEMI ASAOLU |
Respondent
REASONS FOR ORDER
AND ORDER
__________________
1 Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Handbook on Procedures and Criteria for Determining Refugee Status, Geneva, January 1998, p.22.