Date: 19990624
Docket: IMM-4929-98
BETWEEN:
LILYA KVIATKOVSKY
YAACOV SONIN
SOFIA SONIN
Applicants
- and -
THE MINISTER OF CITIZENSHIP AND IMMIGRATION
Respondent
REASONS FOR ORDER
McKEOWN J.
[1] The applicants, citizens of Israel, seek judicial review of a decision of the Immigration and Refugee Board Convention Refugee Determination Division ("the Board"), dated August 26, 1998, wherein it determined that they are not Convention refugees.
[2] The issue is whether the finding that adequate state protection exists in Israel for the principal female applicant who is an abused woman, whose life is in danger, is an error.
[3] The Board found at page 9 of the reasons:
| Based on all the evidence the panel finds that if the principal claimant returns to Israel effective state protection would be reasonably forthcoming to her if she seeks such protection and it would not be objectively unreasonable in the circumstances for the principal claimant to seek out the protection of the Israeli authorities. |
[4] In my view this case is comparable to Kadenka v. Canada (Solicitor General) [1996] 124 F.T.R. 160, where the following certified question was decided in the negative:
| Where there has been a complete breakdown of a governmental apparatus and where a state has political and judicial institutions capable of protecting its citizens, does the refusal by certain police officers to take action suffice to establish that the state in question is unable or unwilling to protect its nationals? |
In the case before me the principal female applicant contacted the police twice about her abuser, a prominent, wealthy and influential man, and her efforts were unsuccessful.
[5] The finding that Israel is a democratic country and that the "protection provided in Israel exists and is not difficult to access" is supported by the evidence and the legal conclusion is supported by the case law, it is not my role to substitute my opinion on the evidence for that of the Refugee Board.
[6] The application for judicial review is dismissed.
"W.P. McKeown"
Judge
TORONTO, ONTARIO
June 24, 1999
FEDERAL COURT OF CANADA
Names of Counsel and Solicitors of Record
COURT NO: IMM-4929-98
| STYLE OF CAUSE: LILYA KVIATKOVSKY |
YAACOV SONIN
SOFIA SONIN
- and -
THE MINISTER OF CITIZENSHIP
AND IMMIGRATION
DATE OF HEARING: THURSDAY, JUNE 24, 1999
PLACE OF HEARING: TORONTO, ONTARIO
REASONS FOR ORDER BY: McKEOWN J.
DATED: THURSDAY, JUNE 24, 1999
APPEARANCES: Ms. Pamila Bhardwaj
For the Applicant
Ms. Marissa Bielski
For the Respondent
SOLICITORS OF RECORD: Bhardwaj, Pohani
Barristers & Solicitors
806-2161 Yonge St.,
Toronto, Ontario
M4S 3A6
For the Applicant
Morris Rosenberg
Deputy Attorney General
of Canada
For the Respondent
FEDERAL COURT OF CANADA
Date: 19990624
Docket: IMM-4929-98
Between:
LILYA KVIATKOVSKY
YAACOV SONIN
SOFIA SONIN
Applicant
- and -
THE MINISTER OF CITIZENSHIP
AND IMMIGRATION
Respondent
REASONS FOR ORDER