Date: 20000420
Docket: IMM-2034-99
Between:
STRIZHEVSKY, Gregory,
Applicant
- and -
THE MINISTER OF CITIZENSHIP
AND IMMIGRATION
Respondent
REASONS FOR ORDER
PINARD J.:
[1] This orders concerns an application for judicial review of a decision by a visa officer dated February 24, 1999, in which the applicant's application for permanent residence was refused.
[2] The applicant, his wife and their daughter are citizens of Israel. In March 1992, the applicant claimed refugee status in Canada.
[3] Following a decision of the Refugee Division dated August 25, 1993 rejecting his refugee claim, a deportation order was issued against the applicant on November 28, 1995, and he left Canada on December 2, 1995.
[4] On April 25, 1996, the applicant filed an application for a certificat de sélection du Québec with the Quebec Delegation in Brussels.
[5] On January 31, 1997, the Quebec authorities (namely the Quebec Delegation in Brussels) issued a certificat de sélection to the applicant and to his wife and his daughter Marina. On the same day, the Quebec Delegation in Brussels transmitted the applications for permanent residence of the applicant and of the members of his family, so that these applications could be processed.
[6] On February 1, 1998, the Quebec Delegation renewed the validity of the certificats de sélection issued to the applicant and to his family.
[7] On November 19, 1998, the immigration service of the Canadian Embassy in Paris indicated to the applicant, by letter, that his application for permanent residence did not meet the requirements for immigration to Canada because he was a member of the class of inadmissible persons described in paragraph 19(1)(i) of the Immigration Act, R.S.C. 1985, c. I-2, ("the Act") by reason of a deportation order made on November 28, 1995.
[8] On the same date, the immigration service called the applicant to an interview in Paris in order to determine whether his application for permanent residence had particular aspects that would warrant granting him the consent of the Minister pursuant to subsection 55(1) of the Act.
[9] On February 24, 1999, the applicant's application for permanent residence in Canada was again refused.
[10] The following legislative provisions are, in particular, relevant to the present case:
Immigration Act, R.S.C. 1985, c. I-2:
| 19. (1) No person shall be granted admission who is a member of any of the following classes:
55. (1) Subject to section 56, where a deportation order is made against a person, the person shall not, after he is removed from or otherwise leaves Canada, come into Canada without the written consent of the Minister unless an appeal from the order has been allowed. |
19. (1) Les personnes suivantes appartiennent à une catégorie non admissible : [. . .]
55. (1) Sous réserve de l'article 56, quiconque fait l'objet d'une mesure d'expulsion ne peut plus revenir au Canada sans l'autorisation écrite du ministre, sauf si la mesure est annulée en appel. |
Canada-Québec Accord Relating to Immigration and Temporary Admission of Aliens, signed on February 5, 1991:
| 10. Canada shall determine which persons may have their application for permanent residence considered in Canada. |
| 12. Subject to sections 13 to 20: |
| (a) Québec has sole responsibility for the selection of immigrants destined to that province, and Canada has sole responsibility for the admission of immigrants to that province. |
| (b) Canada shall admit any immigrant destined to Québec who meets Québec's selection criteria, if the immigrant is not in an inadmissible class under the law of Canada. |
| [. . .] |
[11] The visa officer refused the special consent provided for in subsection 55(1) of the Act in the following terms:
| Having carefully considered all the evidence and information that you have provided to us, we have found that your return to Canada would not represent any social, economic, cultural or other benefit for the country. It has therefore been determined that there was no reason to employ extraordinary measures in order to allow you the immigrate to Canada. |
[12] There is nothing in the evidence to show that the discretionary power provided for in subsection 55(1) has been exercised in an unreasonable manner. The applicant had the opportunity to make his representations at an interview before the visa officer, and the resulting decision is not based on irrelevant considerations.
[13] Although the applicant's file contained notes of an Immigration officer expressing that officer's opinion that the application for refugee status in Canada by the applicant's son was a negative factor in the assessment of the application for consent, there is nothing to indicate that these notes were taken into account by the visa officer in his decision.
[14] Consequently, in light of paragraph 19(1)(i) of the Act and of section 12 of the Canada-Québec Accord concerned, and more particularly subsection (b) thereof, the visa officer properly found that the applicant's application for permanent residence should be refused.
[15] The application for judicial review is therefore dismissed.
(YVON PINARD)
JUDGE
OTTAWA, ONTARIO
April 20, 2000
Certified true translation
Martine Brunet, LL.B.
Date: 20000420
Docket: IMM-2034-99
Ottawa, Ontario, this 20th day of April 2000
Before the Honourable Justice Pinard
Between:
STRIZHEVSKY, Gregory,
Applicant
- and -
THE MINISTER OF CITIZENSHIP
AND IMMIGRATION
Respondent
ORDER
The application for judicial review of a decision by a visa officer dated February 24, 1999 is dismissed.
(YVON PINARD)
JUDGE
Certified true translation
Martine Brunet, LL.B.
FEDERAL COURT OF CANADA
TRIAL DIVISION
NAMES OF COUNSEL AND OF SOLICITORS OF RECORD
COURT FILE No.: IMM-2034-99
STYLE OF CAUSE: Strizhevsky, Gregory and the Minister of Citizenship
and Immigration
PLACE OF HEARING: Montreal, Quebec
DATE OF HEARING: March 23, 2000
REASONS FOR THE ORDER OF PINARD J.
DATE: April 20, 2000
APPEARANCES:
Mr. Jacques Beauchemin for Applicant
Mr. Michel Pépin for Respondent
SOLICITORS OF RECORD:
Mr. Jacques Beauchemin for Applicant
Montreal, Quebec
Mr. Morris Rosenberg for Respondent
Deputy Attorney General of Canada