Date: 19980813
Docket: IMM-4436-97
BETWEEN:
GENTIAN NASUFI
Applicant
- and -
THE MINISTER OF CITIZENSHIP & IMMIGRATION
Respondent
REASONS FOR ORDER
ROTHSTEIN, J.:
1� The applicant feared persecution if he returned to Albania by reason of his father being a member of the Communist Party and his adoption of the Jehovah's Witness faith. In the latter regard, he was concerned that if he returned, he would be required to serve in the army which was inconsistent with his faith and that if he refused to serve, the fact that his father was a member of the Communist Party would cause him to suffer persecution.
2� The panel deals with the fact that the applicant's father was a member of the Communist regime and concluded that there was little information that simply being related to a member of the former Communist Party would lead to any serious problems amounting to more than discrimination. It observed that he was allowed to enter university without problems and had no difficulty when the Democratic Party first came to power in 1992. The evidence before the panel was that the authorities did nothing to pursue him to perform his military service when he was there. The panel thus addressed the question of whether the father's association with the Communist Party could result in some form of persecution to the applicant and on the evidence before it, concluded that it would not.
3� The panel then went on to deal with the applicant's religion and his desire not to participate in military service. It first dealt with the possibility of being able to pay a fee in lieu of serving in the army. Apparently, the applicant was unaware of this possibility and did not investigate it. The panel then went on, in view of the lack of evidence on that point, to consider that if he could not pay to avoid service, whether the authorities would persecute him for refusing to serve. The panel noted that there is a constitution in Albania that provides for freedom of thought, conscience and religion and notes from the documentary evidence that the government respects these provisions in practice. Applicant's counsel cited a number of references in the documentary material that suggest that there may be incidences of the government not abiding by the constitution but none of those references deal specifically with freedom of religion or with the situation of a person on religious conviction grounds not wishing to serve in the military. In view of the fact that there was evidence before the panel that the government respects freedom of religion in practice, I do not think the panel erred with respect to this issue.
4� I am not satisfied that there is any error in the panel's reasons.
5� The judicial review is dismissed.
"Marshall Rothstein"
Judge
Toronto, Ontario
August 13, 1998
FEDERAL COURT OF CANADA
Names of Counsel and Solicitors of Record
COURT NO: IMM-4436-97
STYLE OF CAUSE: GENTIAN NASUFI
- and -
THE MINISTER OF CITIZENSHIP AND IMMIGRATION
DATE OF HEARING: THURSDAY, AUGUST 13, 1998
PLACE OF HEARING: TORONTO, ONTARIO
REASONS FOR ORDER BY: ROTHSTEIN, J.
DATED: THURSDAY, AUGUST 13, 1998
APPEARANCES:
Mr. Arthur W. Weinreb
For the Applicant
Ms. Susan Nucci
For the Respondent
SOLICITORS OF RECORD: Arthur W. Weinreb
Barrister & Solicitor
44 Woodrow Avenue
Toronto, Ontario
M4C 5S2
For the Applicant
Morris Rosenberg
Deputy Attorney General
of Canada
For the Respondent
FEDERAL COURT OF CANADA
Date: 19980813
Docket: IMM-4436-97
Between:
GENTIAN NASUFI
Applicant
- and -
THE MINISTER OF CITIZENSHIP AND IMMIGRATION
Respondent
REASONS FOR ORDER