IMM-2481-96
OTTAWA, ONTARIO, THIS 4TH DAY OF JUNE 1997
PRESENT: THE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE NOËL
BETWEEN:
JORGE ENRIQUE VALENZUELA BARRIENTOS,
JORGE MAURICIO VALENZUELA FOURE,
LUISA LILIANA FOURE DIAZ,
Applicants,
and
MINISTER OF CITIZENSHIP AND IMMIGRATION,
Respondent.
O R D E R
The application for judicial review is dismissed.
Marc Noël
Judge
Certified true translation
C. Delon, LL.L.
IMM-2481-96
BETWEEN:
JORGE ENRIQUE VALENZUELA BARRIENTOS,
JORGE MAURICIO VALENZUELA FOURE,
LUISA LILIANA FOURE DIAZ,
Applicants,
and
MINISTER OF CITIZENSHIP AND IMMIGRATION,
Respondent.
REASONS FOR ORDER
NOËL J.
This is an application for judicial review of a decision of the Refugee Division of the Immigration and Refugee Board (the "tribunal") declaring the applicants' refugee claim to have been abandoned.
Counsel for the applicants does not seem to understand that by failing to comply with the rules that apply to refugee claims he is casting doubt on the merits of the applications he has made and on the sincerity of the people he is representing. A person whose safety is threatened in his or her country of origin and who is seeking the protection of a country of refuge is necessarily keen to comply with the legal framework that has been established for that purpose, and does not tolerate laxity.
The only question that arises before me is whether the tribunal was entitled to declare the applicants' claim to have been abandoned, having regard to the evidence before it. On this point, the board was entitled to make that declaration based on the actions both of counsel and of the applicants, quite apart from the actions of their counsel.
Neither of the two questions raised by counsel for the applicants merits certification.1 With respect to the first question, it was not shown that Charter rights are in issue at this stage of the proceedings, and having regard to what was said earlier; with respect to the second, it is plain that any action by a claimant that suggests that he or she has abandoned the claim can support a declaration of abandonment.2
For these reasons, the application for judicial review is dismissed.
Marc Noël
Judge
Ottawa, Ontario
June 4, 1997
Certified true translation
C. Delon, LL.L.
FEDERAL COURT OF CANADA
TRIAL DIVISION
NAMES OF COUNSEL AND SOLICITORS OF RECORD
COURT FILE NO: IMM-2481-96
STYLE OF CAUSE: JORGE ENRIQUE VALENZUELA BARRIENTOS
| JORGE MAURICIO VALENZUELA FOURE |
LUISA LILIANA FOURE DIAZ
v.
MINISTER OF CITIZENSHIP AND IMMIGRATION
PLACE OF HEARING: MONTRÉAL, QUEBEC
DATE OF HEARING: MAY 28, 1997
REASONS FOR JUDGMENT OF THE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE NOËL
DATED: JUNE 4, 1997
APPEARANCES:
STEWART ISTVANFFY FOR THE APPLICANTS
MICHEL SYNNOTT FOR THE RESPONDENT
SOLICITORS OF RECORD:
STEWART ISTVANFFY FOR THE APPLICANTS
MONTRÉAL, QUEBEC
GEORGE THOMSON FOR THE RESPONDENT
DEPUTY ATTORNEY GENERAL OF CANADA
__________________
1 Must the I.R.B. consider sections 7 and 12 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms at an abandonment hearing under subsection 69.1(6)?
May the tribunal declare the claim to have been abandoned when the record has been perfected and the case is ready to proceed, where there has been no blameworthy conduct or flagrant lack of respect for the tribunal?
2 Compare Ghassan v. Minister of Employment and Immigration, IMM-2843-93, (June 22, 1994), Denault J.