Date: 20040318
Docket: IMM-209-03
Citation: 2004 FC 392
BETWEEN:
ALI GONULCAN
Applicant
- and -
THE MINISTER OF CITIZENSHIP
AND IMMIGRATION
Respondent
REASONS FOR ORDER
PINARD J.:
[1] This is an application for judicial review of a decision by the Refugee Protection Division of the Immigration and Refugee Board (the IRB), dated December 13, 2002, that the applicant is not a "Convention Refugee" or a "person in need of protection" within the meaning of sections 96 and 97, respectively, of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, S.C. 2001, c. 27 (the Act).
[2] Ali Gönülcan (the applicant) is a citizen of Turkey and he alleges that he has a well-founded fear of persecution because of his Kurdish ethnicity and his Alevi religion.
[3] This is a case where the IRB determined that the applicant is not a Convention refugee or a "person in need of protection" because he is not credible. This finding of a lack of credibility is based on contradictions and inconsistencies which are generally well confirmed by the evidence and which are significant. In this respect, notwithstanding an error that is not determinative by the IRB in designating the particular café to which the applicant returned, I believe, after hearing the parties' counsel and reviewing the record, that it was not patently unreasonable for this specialized tribunal to find as it did.
[4] Such an applicant, rightly found to be not credible, at the very least, has not established the subjective fear and the need for personal protection required in order to be considered a Convention refugee or a "person in need of protection" within the meaning of sections 96 and 97, respectively, of the Act. In like circumstances, the IRB may find against a refugee claimant or a person in need of protection without having to consider his objective fear of persecution or the need to extend protection to individuals, other than himself, from his country of origin.
[5] For these reasons, the application for judicial review is dismissed.
"Yvon Pinard"
JUDGE
OTTAWA, ONTARIO
March 18, 2004
Certified true translation
Kelley A. Harvey, BA, BCL, LLB
FEDERAL COURT
SOLICITORS OF RECORD
DOCKET: IMM-209-03
STYLE OF CAUSE: ALI GONULCAN v. THE MINISTER OF CITIZENSHIP AND IMMIGRATION
PLACE OF HEARING: Montréal, Quebec
DATE OF HEARING: February 10, 2004
REASONS FOR ORDER BY: Pinard J.
DATE OF REASONS: March 18, 2004
APPEARANCES:
Michel Le Brun FOR THE APPLICANT
Michel Pépin FOR THE RESPONDENT
SOLICITORS OF RECORD:
Michel Le Brun FOR THE APPLICANT
Montréal, Quebec
Morris Rosenberg FOR THE RESPONDENT
Deputy Attorney General of Canada
Montréal, Quebec