Date: 19990211
Docket: IMM-4029-98
Between :
WILLIAM JOSE PORRAS (SILVA)
and BERTHA LYLIAM RUIZ (ESTRADA)
Applicants
- and -
THE MINISTER OF CITIZENSHIP
AND IMMIGRATION
Respondent
REASONS FOR ORDER
PINARD, J. :
[1] The applicants seek judicial review of a decision of the Convention Refugee Determination Division of the Immigration and Refugee Board (the "CRDD") dated July 20, 1998, in which the CRDD determined they were not Convention refugees as defined in subsection 2(1) of the Immigration Act.
[2] Upon reading the affidavits and the material filed herein, and upon considering the arguments presented by counsel for the parties, the matter must be referred back to a differently constituted panel of the CRDD on the ground that the applicants, originally from Nicaragua, were denied procedural fairness. I am satisfied that the applicants, who did not have legal counsel, were not able to fully present their case due to difficulties with the translator, who was from Chile. Although the fact that the applicants did not have legal counsel is not, in itself, a denial of their right to a fair hearing, the translation-related problems at the CRDD hearing warrant the intervention of this Court.
[3] Consequently, the application for judicial review is allowed and the matter is referred back to the CRDD for a new hearing before a differently constituted panel.
[4] I agree with counsel for the parties that this matter does not raise any question of general importance for the purpose of certification.
JUDGE
OTTAWA, ONTARIO
February 11, 1999
Date: 19990211
Docket: IMM-4029-98
Ottawa, Ontario, this 11th day of February, 1999
Present : The Honourable Mr. Justice Pinard
Between :
WILLIAM JOSE PORRAS (SILVA)
and BERTHA LYLIAM RUIZ (ESTRADA)
Applicants
- and -
THE MINISTER OF CITIZENSHIP
AND IMMIGRATION
Respondent
ORDER
The application for judicial review of the decision of the Convention Refugee Determination Division of the Immigration and Refugee Board dated July 27, 1998 is hereby allowed and the matter is referred back to the CRDD for a new hearing before a differently constituted panel.
JUDGE