Date: 19981229
Docket: IMM-663-98
BETWEEN:
BEATRICE BAGUMA
Applicant
- and -
THE MINISTER OF CITIZENSHIP AND IMMIGRATION
Defendant
REASONS FOR ORDER
DUBÉ J:
[1] This application is for the judicial review of the decision of the Convention Refugee Determination Division of the Immigration and Refugee Board ("the Board") dated January 28, 1998, to the effect that the applicant is not a Convention refugee as defined under subsection 2(1) of the Immigration Act ("the Act").
1. Facts
[2] The applicant was born on October 16, 1968, in Sumbawanga, Rukwa, in Tanzania. She has been a citizen of Rwanda since birth and is a Catholic Tutsi.
[3] On May 15, 1994, when a Tutsi genocide had begun, the applicant's family was assailed: both her parents and three of her sisters were killed. The applicant, along with her two brothers and another sister, escaped. After the genocide had subsided, she returned to Kigali where she was reunited with her three surviving siblings and returned to her previous employment as a receptionist/secretary.
[4] Early in 1997, she claims that she began receiving death threats through phone calls. On May 8, 1997, her cousin was shot dead in Ruhengeri. In early June 1997, a live grenade was discovered behind the house she was renting. She reported this to the police and claims that they told her they cannot protect every witness to the genocide. She then fled to Canada. Her surviving siblings are still in Rwanda, attending a boarding school.
2. Decision of the Board
[5] The Board found that the applicant's fear was not supported by the objective evidence. The Board held as follows:
| While the events in Rwanda in 1994 were truly horrific, and the claimant"s life has been undoubtedly affected by the tragedy, having lost 5 members of her family, the panel finds on a balance of probabilities that there is insufficient objective evidence to support the claimant"s subjective fear that these anonymous phone calls in Kigali three years later were connected to the events in Nyanza in 1994. |
| The panel therefore finds the claimant"s fear of persecution, were she to return to Rwanda, based on her Tutsi origin and having survived the genocide in 1994, not to be supported by the objective evidence, and therefore not to be well-founded. Based on the above, the panel finds that Beatrice BAGUMA is not a Convention refugee1. |
[6] In reaching its decision, the Board determined that:
| ... the Tutsi are the government of Rwanda and exercise effective control in Kigali. The panel can find insufficient evidence that the police would not provide effective protection to a Tutsi who was a witness to genocide in Kigali ... there is insufficient objective evidence to support the claimant"s subjective fear that these anonymous phone calls in Kigali three years later were connected to the events in Nyanza in 19942. |
3. Analysis
[7] It appears from its decision that the Board did consider the factual situation prevailing in 1994 in Rwanda and the specific tragedy suffered by the applicant's family. However, it found insufficient evidence that the telephone calls in 1997 were related to the 1994 events. It also considered the prevailing circumstances with the Tutsis now firmly in control in Kigali. It found that the documentary evidence did indicate that a large number of reprisal killings of survivors and witnesses to the genocide were taking place in certain areas of Rwanda but not in Kigali. Moreover, the applicant did not satisfy the Board that she could not avail herself of police protection in her country. In the light of the documentation filed before the Board, it was open to it to find as it did. Thus, its decision was not patently unreasonable and this Court cannot interfere and impose its own conclusions.
[8] Consequently, this application for judicial review is denied.
[9] There is no question of general importance to be certified in this matter.
OTTAWA, Ontario
December 29, 1998
Judge
__________________1 Immigration and Refugee Board (Refugee Division) decision, pp. 3 and 4 (pp. 13 and 14 of the Applicant's Record).
2 Immigration and Refugee Board (Refugee Division) decision, p. 3 (p. 13 of the Applicant's Record).