Date: 19980610
Docket: IMM-4932-96
Ottawa, Ontario, the 10th day of June 1998
Present: The Honourable Mr. Justice Pinard
Between:
VIATCHESLAV KHAZTCHENKO
VIATCHESLAV KHAZTCHENKO
IRINA KHAZTCHENKO
Applicants
- and -
MINISTER OF CITIZENSHIP
AND IMMIGRATION
Respondent
ORDER
The application for judicial review of the decision of the Refugee Division dated December 18, 1996, determining that the applicants are not Convention refugees, is dismissed.
YVON PINARD
JUDGE
Certified true translation
Peter Douglas
Date: 19980610
Docket: IMM-4932-96
Between:
VIATCHESLAV KHAZTCHENKO
VIATCHESLAV KHAZTCHENKO
IRINA KHAZTCHENKO
Applicants
- and -
MINISTER OF CITIZENSHIP
AND IMMIGRATION
Respondent
ORDER
PINARD J.:
[1] This is an application for judicial review of a decision of the Refugee Division dated December 18, 1996, determining that the applicants, Viatcheslav Khaztchenko, his spouse Irina Khaztchenko and their son, Viatcheslav Khaztchenko, are not Convention refugees. The applicants are all citizens of Kazakhstan; Mr. Khaztchenko is of Russian nationality while his wife and their son are Russian Jews.
[2] Essentially, the applicants submit that the Board erred in the following two statements it made at page 4 of its decision:
| [TRANSLATION] . . . the documentation which was filed at the hearing makes no mention of any anti-Semitic incidents in Kazakhstan . . . |
| . . . the claimants were confronted with the documentation which was filed at the hearing and which refers not to persecution of the Russian minority, but rather to discrimination . . . |
[3] Although the contents of the documents which are reproduced at pages 199, 204, 295 and 306 of the Board"s record, with respect to the first statement, and the contents of the document which is reproduced at page 221 of the Board"s record, with respect to the second statement, appear to me to prove the applicants right, I doubt that these erroneous statements were the deciding factor, in the circumstances, having regard to the context of the whole decision in which they were made and having regard to the rest of the documentary evidence.
[4] In any event, the Board"s finding on the internal flight alternative in the northern region of the country is sufficient for this application to be dismissed. On this point, the Board said the following:
| [TRANSLATION] Moreover, even if their fear were well founded, there is an internal flight alternative (IFA) in the northern region of the country. Russian speakers are in the majority in the north of the country where they have strong organizations. The Republican Public Slavonic Movement (LAD) is "especially powerful in the north" and has been joined by Yedintsvo and the Democratic Progress Party. The northern region of Kazakhstan is an internal flight alternative. The claimants could reasonably go and live in the northern region without fear. |
[5] In view of the evidence in the record, I am of the opinion that it was reasonable for the Refugee Division, which is a specialized tribunal, to have concluded that the circumstances in the northern region of Kazakhstan are safe enough that the applicants could [TRANSLATION] "enjoy basic human rights" and also that the situation in that part of the country is such that it would not be unreasonable, in all the circumstances, for the applicants to seek refuge there (see Rasaratnam v. Canada (M.E.I.) , [1992] 1 F.C. 706, at page 709).
[6] In the result, the application for judicial review is dismissed, without certification pursuant to subsection 83(1) of the Immigration Act.
YVON PINARD
JUDGE
OTTAWA, ONTARIO
June 10, 1998
Certified true translation
Peter Douglas
FEDERAL COURT OF CANADA
TRIAL DIVISION
NAMES OF COUNSEL AND SOLICITORS OF RECORD
COURT NO.: IMM-4932-96
STYLE OF CAUSE: VIATCHESLAV KHAZTCHENKO et al. v. MCI
PLACE OF HEARING: Montréal, Quebec
DATE OF HEARING: June 2, 1998
REASONS FOR ORDER BY Pinard J.
DATED June 10, 1998
APPEARANCES:
Michel Le Brun FOR THE APPLICANTS
Jocelyne Murphy FOR THE RESPONDENT
SOLICITORS OF RECORD:
Michel Le Brun FOR THE APPLICANTS
Montréal, Quebec
George Thomson FOR THE RESPONDENT
Deputy Attorney General of Canada