Date: 19990730
Docket: IMM-6093-99
BETWEEN:
HENRY CORREDOR SERRANO
Applicant
- and -
THE MINISTER OF CITIZENSHIP AND IMMIGRATION
Respondent
REASONS FOR ORDER
ROTHSTEIN J.
[1] In this judicial recision of a decision of a panel of the Refugee Division the applicant claims a well-founded fear of persecution by the police in Colombia because of his homosexuality. While the panel found that homophobia is widespread in Colombia, and results in discrimination, it found there was no serious possibility of the applicant being persecuted. The documentary evidence indicated that overt acts of violence and serious abuse occurred to the most visible of homosexuals. Based on the applicant"s evidence and the documentary evidence the panel concluded that the applicant did not fit into the most visible group of homosexuals. The panel also observed that although the applicant alleged difficulties beginning in 1993 he did not leave Colombia until the fall of 1996, that he went to Italy on a student visa and came to Canada in October 1997 on a Canadian student visa and did not make a refugee claim until late in January 1998, shortly before his student visa was to expire. The panel found that this delay impacted negatively on the credibility of his story.
[2] The panel concluded that the applicant"s actions were consistent with the view that the difficulties encountered were isolated instances and were contradictory to a well-founded fear of persecution at the hands of the police in Colombia.
[3] I can find no error in the panel"s reasoning. The panel was entitled to have regard for the long delay between the time the applicant"s difficulties arose in Colombia and his refugee application in Canada in assessing the credibility of his claim. The panel also quite properly considered the applicant"s activities in concluding that they were not consistent with his alleged fear at the hands of the police. The panel acknowledged that homosexuals were not without discrimination in Colombia but that the applicant did not fit any group who might have serious risk of persecution. The applicant"s activities and the documentary evidence support this conclusion.
[4] The judicial review must be dismissed.
"Marshall Rothstein"
JUDGE
TORONTO, ONTARIO
July 30, 1999
FEDERAL COURT OF CANADA
Names of Counsel and Solicitors of Record
| COURT NO: IMM-6093-99 |
| STYLE OF CAUSE: HENRY CORREDOR SERRANO |
| - and - |
| THE MINISTER OF CITIZENSHIP AND IMMIGRATION |
| DATE OF HEARING: THURSDAY, JULY 29, 1999 |
| PLACE OF HEARING: TORONTO, ONTARIO |
| REASONS FOR ORDER BY: ROTHSTEIN J. |
DATED: FRIDAY, JULY 30, 1999
APPEARANCES: Mr. Kirk J. Cooper
For the Applicant
Ms. Marianne Zoric
For the Respondent
SOLICITORS OF RECORD: Kirk J. Cooper
Barrister & Solicitor
120 Carlton Street
Suite 215
Toronto, Ontario
M5A 4K2
| For the Applicant |
Morris Rosenberg
Deputy Attorney General of Canada
For the Respondent
FEDERAL COURT OF CANADA
Date:19990730
Docket: IMM-6093-99
Between:
| HENRY CORREDOR SERRANO |
Applicant
- and -
| THE MINISTER OF CITIZENSHIP AND IMMIGRATION |
Respondent
REASONS FOR ORDER