Date: 19980623
Docket: IMM-4719-97
BETWEEN:
KANNAPARAN RAJENDRAN
Applicant
- and -
THE MINISTER OF CITIZENSHIP AND IMMIGRATION
Respondent
REASONS FOR ORDER
REED, J.
1� The Convention Refugee Determination Division of the Immigration and Refugee Board found the applicant not to be credible on three grounds: (1) his description of passing through the check point at Thandikkullam was at odds with the documentary evidence; (2) the applicant seemed to first testify that he had been registered with the police when he arrived in Colombo and then that he had not been registered; (3) he testified that upon his arrest in Colombo he had not been asked for his identity documents. In addition the Board said that the applicant had an I.F.A. in Colombo although no analysis was undertaken by the Board in support of this conclusion.
2� The Board's first finding that the applicant's evidence concerning his transit of the Thandikkullam check point is at odds with the documentary evidence, is the reason the Board relies upon most heavily in its decision. The applicant went through that check point in April 1996. The documentary evidence upon which the Board relied for its conclusion all relate to a later period of time. While counsel invites me to conclude that the Board considered the documentary evidence to refer to the earlier time period as well as the later, I am not prepared to accept that such an inference is supported by the record. Indeed, there is some indication in the documentary evidence that the more stringent control mechanisms to which the Board referred were not in place until August of 1996.
3� In addition, the Board's conclusion that the applicant first testified that he had been registered with the police in Colombo, and then that he had not, is not supported by the evidence. At all times he said that he had given his identity documents to the lodge owner where he was staying and did not know whether the lodge owner had registered him. The applicant's evidence was that he had been arrested from the lodge within a few hours of his arrival in Colombo.
4� In light of these severe defects in the Board's decision, it must be set aside and the applicant's appeal referred back to another panel of the Board for rehearing.
"B. Reed"
Judge
Toronto, Ontario
June 23, 1998
FEDERAL COURT OF CANADA
Names of Counsel and Solicitors of Record
COURT NO: IMM-4719-97
STYLE OF CAUSE: KANNAPARAN RAJENDRAN
- and -
THE MINISTER OF CITIZENSHIP AND IMMIGRATION
DATE OF HEARING: JUNE 23, 1998
PLACE OF HEARING: TORONTO, ONTARIO
REASONS FOR ORDER BY: REED, J.
DATED: JUNE 23, 1998
APPEARANCES:
Ms. Helen P. Luzius
For the Applicant
Mr. Godwin Friday
For the Respondent
SOLICITORS OF RECORD:
Helen P. Luzius
Barrister & Solicitor
372 Bay Street, Suite 1610
Toronto, Ontario
M5H 2W9
For the Applicant
George Thomson
Deputy Attorney General
of Canada
For the Respondent
FEDERAL COURT OF CANADA
Date: 19980623
Docket: IMM-4719-97
Between:
KANNAPARAN RAJENDRAN
Applicant
- and -
THE MINISTER OF CITIZENSHIP AND IMMIGRATION
Respondent
REASONS FOR ORDER