IMM-2644-96
B E T W E E N:
GRACE ACHEAMPONG
Applicant
- and -
THE MINISTER OF CITIZENSHIP AND IMMIGRATION
Respondent
REASONS FOR ORDER
RICHARD, J.:
The applicant seeks to set aside the decision of the Immigration and Refugee Board (the "Board") dated July 11, 1996, wherein the Board determined that the applicant is not a Convention refugee.
The applicant, a citizen of Ghana, testified that she refused to become Queen Mother, following the death of her grandmother on February 28, 1994, when asked by her uncle and a delegation from the town because it violated her religious beliefs. She testified that, as a result, she was kidnapped, and that her father was murdered the day after freeing her. She testified that her uncle was responsible for the murder of her father and the subsequent death of her brother who was killed in an accident. She left Ghana on August 12, 1994, entering Canada the next day. She made her refugee claim on October 28, 1994. She claimed that she feared returning to Ghana because she would be killed by the townspeople for not accepting to become Queen Mother.
The evidence presented to the Board and on which the Board based its decision was the oral testimony of the applicant, her PIF and documentary evidence provided by the RCO and by the applicant's counsel.
The Board found the applicant not to be credible. It found major inconsistencies between her testimony and the documentary evidence.
The applicant challenges the Board's finding of non-credibility. The applicant also complains of what it calls the intrusiveness of one Board member who cautioned the applicant during her oral testimony that she was being evasive in her answers to certain questions, some of which were put to her by her own counsel.
I can dispose of this last ground by finding that the Board member was seeking to alert the applicant to the Board's concern about the clarity of her answers to certain questions and giving her an opportunity to explain herself more clearly.
The finding of non-credibility was based on two separate matters:
| 1) the claimant's description of the succession to the position of Queen Mother; and |
| 2) the claimant's description of her brother's death. |
Counsel for the applicant claims that the first of these was based on an erroneous finding of facts.
The applicant claimed that she was the only rightful successor to the position and had no choice but to accept the position because her mother was dead, her aunt was not qualified because of a handicap and her daughter was too young. The Board disbelieved her evidence relying on documentary evidence in the form of a response to a request for information, which was filed at the hearing. It found that the Queen Mother is appointed from among all of the eligible family line, that political jockeying occurs among the potential candidates and that succession is not compulsory and could be declined. It also found that the Queen Mother could step down and be removed from that position.
With respect to her brother's death, the documentary evidence, in the form of a newspaper report filed by the applicant herself in support of her claim, indicates that her brother was killed when a timber truck crushed a van killing all nineteen passengers.
The Board's finding on non-credibility was reasonably open to it on all of the evidence.
There was evidence before the Board to support its finding that succession was not compulsory and could be declined and that her brother's death was accidental. It was therefore open to the Board to conclude that it did not have sufficient credible and trustworthy evidence before it on which to make a finding that the claimant had a well-founded fear of persecution because she refused to become the Queen Mother.
Accordingly, the application for judicial review is dismissed.
"John D. Richard"
Judge
Toronto, Ontario
April 30, 1997
FEDERAL COURT OF CANADA
Names of Counsel and Solicitors of Record
COURT NO: IMM-2644-96
STYLE OF CAUSE: GRACE ACHEAMPONG
- and -
THE MINISTER OF CITIZENSHIP
AND IMMIGRATION
DATE OF HEARING: APRIL 29, 1997
PLACE OF HEARING: TORONTO, ONTARIO
REASONS FOR ORDER BY: RICHARD, J.
DATED: APRIL 30, 1997
APPEARANCES:
Mr. M. Hamalengwa
For the Applicant
Ms. Catherine Hucal
For the Respondent
SOLICITORS OF RECORD:
Munyonzwe Hamalengwa
900-2 Sheppard Avenue East
North York, Ontario
M2N 5Y7
For the Applicant
George Thomson
Deputy Attorney General
of Canada
For the Respondent
FEDERAL COURT OF CANADA
Court No.: IMM-2264-96
Between:
GRACE ACHEAMPONG
Applicant
- and -
THE MINISTER OF CITIZENSHIP
AND IMMIGRATION
Respondent
REASONS FOR ORDER