Date: 20040511
Docket: IMM-4188-04
Citation: 2004 FC 686
Toronto, Ontario, May 11th, 2004
Present: The Honourable Madam Justice Mactavish
BETWEEN:
NADEEM AHMED, RUBY AHMED
MOHAMMAD DANISH NADEEM, MOHAMMAD SAQIB NADEEM
AQIB MOHAMMAD NADEEM
Applicants
and
THE SOLICITOR GENERAL OF CANADA
Respondent
REASONS FOR ORDER AND ORDER
[1] This application for a stay of removal arises out of a negative Pre-removal Risk Assessment or "PRRA", which determined that the applicants would not be at risk of persecution if they were returned to Pakistan.
[2] The applicants are Shia Muslims. They claim that the principal applicant was targeted by Sunni extremists because he played an active role within his religious community. The applicants further submit that state protection was not available to them in Pakistan. The PRRA officer found that while there was sectarian violence within Pakistan, nevertheless adequate state protection was available to the applicants.
[3] The applicants submit that this finding was patently unreasonable in light of the overwhelming documentary evidence before the PRRA officer with respect to the situation facing members of the Shia minority within Pakistan. According to the applicants, Pakistani police forces are notoriously corrupt, and have repeatedly been implicated in human rights abuses and extra-judicial killings. The applicants cannot be expected to rely on police forces of this nature for protection from Sunni extremists. Further, the applicants say, the fact that the police are able to act with impunity demonstrates that the Pakistani government is not really in control of the situation within that country.
[4] In order to grant the stay of a removal order, the onus is on the applicants to establish each of the elements of the tripartite test in Toth v. Canada (Minister of Employment and Immigration) (1988), 86 N.R. 302 (F.C.A.). In order to succeed, the applicants must establish that there is a serious issue to be tried with regards to the underlying matters, that they will suffer irreparable harm if the stay is not granted and that the balance of convenience favours the granting of the stay. The test is conjunctive. That is, the motion cannot succeed if the applicants fail to meet one part of the test.
[5] Having carefully reviewed the PRRA report, and having considered the applicants' submissions, I am not persuaded that a serious issue arises here. Decisions of PRRA officers are to be given significant deference. Where there is nothing unreasonable in the PRRA decision, there will be no serious issue. In this case, the PRRA officer clearly considered the applicants' submissions as well as the recent documentary evidence with respect to ongoing human rights abuses in Pakistan. What the applicants are asking the Court to do is to re-weigh the evidence that was before the PRRA officer. While the applicants may not agree with the PRRA decision, they have not demonstrated that it was arguably perverse or patently unreasonable.
[6] As the applicants have failed to establish the existence of a serious issue, the motion is dismissed.
ORDER
THIS COURT ORDERS that
1. The motion for a stay is dismissed.
"A. Mactavish"
J.F.C.
FEDERAL COURT
Names of Counsel and Solicitors of Record
DOCKET: IMM-4188-04
STYLE OF CAUSE: NADEEM AHMED, RUBY AHMED
MOHAMMAD DANISH NADEEM, MOHAMMAD SAQIB NADEEM AQIB MOHAMMAD NADEEM
Applicants
and
THE SOLICITOR GENERAL OF CANADA
Respondent
PLACE OF HEARING: TORONTO, ONTARIO
DATE OF HEARING: MAY 10, 2004
REASONS FOR ORDER
AND ORDER BY: MACTAVISH J.
APPEARANCES BY:
Mr. Hart Kaminker
FOR THE APPLICANTS
Mr. David Tindale
FOR THE RESPONDENT
SOLICITORS OF RECORD:
Mr. Hart Kaminker
Toronto, Ontario
FOR THE APPLICANTS
Morris Rosenberg
Deputy Attorney General of Canada
FOR THE RESPONDENT
FEDERAL COURT
Date: 20040511
Docket: IMM-4188-04
BETWEEN:
NADEEM AHMED, RUBY AHMED
MOHAMMAD DANISH NADEEM, MOHAMMAD SAQIB NADEEM AQIB MOHAMMAD NADEEM
Applicants
and
THE SOLICITOR GENERAL OF CANADA
Respondent
REASONS FOR ORDER
AND ORDER