Date: 19980721
Docket: IMM-76-98
BETWEEN:
HELEN GEBREHIWOT,
Applicant,
- and -
THE MINISTER OF CITIZENSHIP AND IMMIGRATION,
Respondent.
REASONS FOR ORDER
DUBÉ J :
[1] The applicant, a twenty year old woman, is a citizen of Ethiopia. Her claim for refugee status is based on an alleged well-founded fear of persecution for reasons of race (she is an Amharas) and of her membership in a particular social group (she is the daughter of a person suspected of anti-government activities).
[2] Her father, a former army officer with the previous government, was arrested and detained by the current regime. She claims that because she was his daughter and an Amharas, she was interrogated and raped by a government official.
[3] The Board found the applicant not to be credible on several grounds. Firstly, she lied about her age at the port of entry claiming she was only sixteen when, in fact, she was eighteen years old. Secondly, she made minimal efforts to get in touch with siblings and friends in Ethiopia. Thirdly, a medical report from a psychiatrist with whom she had an interview in June 1997, stated that she informed him she was very frightened of men, because of the rape, and that she felt she could never have a relation with a man again. However, at that time she had already met a man in Canada with whom she had fallen in love and whom she married in September of that same year. Fourthly, in her PIF narrative, she alleged that her attacker tried to get in touch with her once while she was still living at home, but in her oral testimony before the Board she said that the man tried to contact her three or four times. Fifthly, in her oral testimony she said that after she left her home soldiers came to look for her twice, an incident not indicated in the PIF narrative. Finally, the Board noted that documentary evidence is to the effect that there is no ground for fearing persecution because one is of the Amhara race in Ethiopia.
[4] It is trite law that in matters of credibility it is not the role of the Court to substitute its own appreciation to that of the Board. The Board is a specialized tribunal vested with the jurisdiction to determine the plausibility of the evidence and to assess the credibility of the applicant. In this instance, it is obvious that the Board found the applicant not to be credible and gave clear reasons for its finding.
[5] Consequently, this application for judicial review cannot be granted. Counsel agreed with the Court that there is no question of general importance to be certified.
OTTAWA, Ontario
July 21, 1998
Judge