Date: 19990709
Docket: IMM-3282-98
BETWEEN:
MOHAMED BADURDEEN MUHUSEEN
AND OTHERS
Applicants
- and -
THE MINISTER OF CITIZENSHIP AND IMMIGRATION
Respondent
REASONS FOR ORDER
EVANS J.
[1] The applicants are citizens of Sri Lanka who claimed refugee status on their arrival in Canada in 1997. The Refugee Division did not find their evidence to be credible and dismissed their claims.
[2] The applicants" claim to have a well founded fear of persecution in Sri Lanka at the hands of the LTTE and the Sri Lankan army rested on allegations of incidents of persecution that would only have any plausibility if, as the applicants alleged, their place of residence in Sri Lanka was Mannar, rather than Colombo. The Refugee Division was not satisfied on the evidence before it that the applicants lived in Mannar.
[3] This would have been sufficient for the Refugee Division to dismiss the claim. However, it also considered the other evidence relating to the alleged incidents of persecution and found it to be equally implausible.
[4] Counsel for the applicants conceded that this application for judicial review could only succeed if he were able to show that on the evidence before it there was no rational basis for the Refugee Division"s conclusion that the applicants" evidence that they lived in Mannar was not credible.
[5] In my opinion there was more than enough evidence before the Refugee Division to support its finding, especially when it is remembered that fact-finding is at the heart of the Refugee Division"s specialized jurisdiction and that the Court should be particularly reluctant to disturb a finding of fact that depends on an assessment of the credibility of the applicants and the plausibility of their evidence.
[6] Apart from the testimony of the applicants the only other evidence supporting their claim to have resided in Mannar was a written receipt on the letterhead of a fish merchant in Mannar. It acknowledged the receipt of payment for fish by "Imshar dry fish merchants of Manna" [sic] . The applicants alleged that "Imshar" was the name of their business.
[7] However, as the Refugee Division noted, this receipt constituted remarkably flimsy evidence to support the applicants" allegation that they had conducted a thriving and well-established fish business in Mannar for the nine years immediately before they came to Canada. It was reasonable to expect that more and more convincing documentary evidence could have been produced, despite the civil war in Sri Lanka, if the applicants" allegations had been true.
[8] In contrast, there was uncontradicted evidence that the applicants had been born in or very near Colombo, and had lived in that city. Their national identity cards showed Colombo as their place of residence. The Refugee Division evidently did not believe the applicants" evidence as to why they had not obtained new cards with their Mannar address.
[9] I am satisfied that the Refugee Division"s conclusion on this issue was reasonably open to it on the evidence and that it accordingly committed no reviewable error.
[10] For these reasons the application for judicial review is dismissed.
"John M. Evans"
J.F.C.C.
Toronto, Ontario
July 9, 1999
FEDERAL COURT OF CANADA
Names of Counsel and Solicitors of Record
| COURT NO: IMM-3282-98 |
| STYLE OF CAUSE: MOHAMED BADURDEEN MUHUSEEN AND OTHERS |
Applicants
| - and - |
| THE MINISTER OF CITIZENSHIP AND IMMIGRATION |
Respondent
DATE OF HEARING: THURSDAY, JULY 8, 1999
PLACE OF HEARING: TORONTO, ONTARIO
| REASONS FOR ORDER AND ORDER BY: EVANS J. |
DATED: FRIDAY, JULY 9, 1999
| APPEARANCES: Mr. David Yerzy |
| For the Applicants |
| Ms. Marianne Zoric |
| For the Respondent |
| SOLICITORS OF RECORD: David Yerzy |
| Barrister & Solicitor |
| 14 Prince Arthur Avenue, Suite 108 |
| Toronto, Ontario |
| M5R 1A9 |
| For the Applicants |
Morris Rosenberg
Deputy Attorney General
of Canada
For the Respondent
FEDERAL COURT OF CANADA
Date: 19990709
Docket: IMM-3282-98
Between:
| MOHAMED BADURDEEN MUHUSEEN AND OTHERS |
Applicants
| - and - |
| THE MINISTER OF CITIZENSHIP AND IMMIGRATION |
Respondent
| REASONS FOR ORDER |
| AND ORDER |