Docket: IMM-10367-04
Toronto, Ontario, December 5, 2005
PRESENT: THE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE VON FINCKENSTEIN
BETWEEN:
ZEINAB TAHA, MAHDI YAACOUB, AMIRA YAACOUB,
HAJAR YAACOUB, ALI YAACOUB AND ABBAS YAACOUB
Applicants
and
THE MINISTER OF CITIZENSHIP AND IMMIGRATION
Respondent
REASONS FOR ORDER AND ORDER
(Given orally from the bench and subsequently written for clarification and precision)
[1] Zeinab Taha (the AApplicant@) is 40 years old and a citizen of Lebanon. The other Applicants are her children, also Lebanese citizens, ranging in age from 10 to 18. Her claim is based on three aspects:
a) an alleged conversion to Christianity;
b) the alleged persecution of her husband by Hezbollah for ripping off a poster with a picture of Hezbollah leaders from the wall of his store; and
c) a professed fear of forcible recruitment of her son by Hezbollah.
[2] The Refugee Protection Division of the Immigration and Refugee Board (the ABoard@) rejected her claim. It found the Applicant not credible. It concluded that the Applicant had
failed to establish her conversion to Christianity, that the alleged incident involving the Hezbollah poster did not take place, and that there was no objective evidence of forcible Hezbollah recruitment.
[3] It is not disputed that the standard of review regarding findings of credibility is patent unreasonableness: see Aguebor v. Minister of Employment and Immigration (1993), 160 N.R. 315 (F.C.A.).
[4] The Applicants= argument that the Board over-emphasized the importance of the alleged poster incident, and used it to taint the entire testimony of the Applicant, cannot be sustained. The decision of the Board, while placing great stress on the poster incident, is also based on the following undisputed facts:
i) there is no evidence of the Applicant=s alleged conversion to Christianity: she was in the United States for three years prior to coming to Canada, yet no evidence of membership in a church or of conversion/baptism was presented;
ii) there is reason to doubt the Applicant=s subjective fear, given that she lived for six years at the same address in Lebanon, and that her husband lived for six years in Beirut (separate from her) without persecution by Hezbollah;
iii) the documentary evidence shows that a) Hezbollah does not forcibly recruit as they do not have a lack of volunteers, and that b) Hezbollah does not target Christians, but only high profile ex-Hezbollah members; and
iv) the Applicant spent over three years in the United States, yet never made a claim for refugee status.
[5] All of these facts amply support the decision of the Board. It therefore cannot be said that the decision was patently unreasonable. Accordingly this application cannot succeed.
ORDER
THIS COURT ORDERS that this application be dismissed.
"K. von Finckenstein"
Judge
FEDERAL COURT
NAMES OF COUNSEL AND SOLICITORS OF RECORD
DOCKET: IMM-10367-04
STYLE OF CAUSE: ZEIBAB TAHA AND OTHERS
Applicants
and
THE MINISTER CITIZENSHIP AND IMMIGRATION
Respondent
PLACE OF HEARING: TORONTO, ONTARIO
DATES OF HEARING: DECEMBER 5, 2005
REASONS FOR ORDER
AND ORDER BY: VON FINCKENSTEIN J.
DATED: December 5, 2005
APPEARANCES BY:
Sandra Saccucci Zaher FOR THE APPLICANTS
Meilka Visnic FOR THE RESPONDENT
SOLICITORS OF RECORD:
Sandra Saccucci Zaher FOR THE APPLICANTS
Barrister & Solicitor
Windsor, Ontario
John H. Sims, Q.C. FOR THE RESPONDENT
Deputy Attorney General of Canada