Date: 19980403
Docket: IMM-161-98
BETWEEN:
AHMED ISSA OMAR AL-MAZROUY
Applicant
- and -
THE MINISTER OF CITIZENSHIP AND IMMIGRATION
Respondent
REASONS FOR ORDER AND ORDER
GILES, A.S.P.:
[1] The applicant herein who applied for an extension of time in which to file his record is challenging the proceedings for the Immigration and Refugee Board inter alia on the grounds that he was not provided with a Swahili interpreter. The applicant, acting for himself, having apparently been abandoned by his lawyer for non-payment of fees, failed to file an adequate record but did file a number of documents in perfect English, i.e. a Notice of Removal of Solicitor, a request that the matter be disposed of without personal appearance, a Notice of Motion and an affidavit, all without any apparent intervention by an interpreter. As well as filing a defective Applicant's Record, the applicant eventually found a lawyer willing to act but unable to do so immediately because of the pressure of other work. In the ordinary way pressure of work does not excuse delay. Because of the conduct of the previous lawyer for which The Law Society, rather than I, is qualified to supply the adjectives, I think taking on the file by the present solicitor in these circumstances justifiable.
[2] The applicant's previous lawyer refuses to release the applicant's file on the grounds of non-payment of fees (of something less than $300) and has allegedly stated the applicant would not be prejudiced. Yet, in her letter of January 19, 1998 to the applicant, she writes:
| If I have not received a retainer by January 30, 1998 I will not undertake to file the material for the appeal and the court will dismiss the appeal as abandoned. |
How such a circumstance could be thought not to prejudice a person appealing a denial of refugee status, I do not know. In my view, if there is any truth to the allegation that a Zanzibari of certain island ethnic and political connections can be persecuted in Tanzania (which is the subject in issue), deportation to Zanzibar would without question be potentially prejudicial. Possibly counsel has some definite contrary information about the fate of the inhabitants of the former sultanate since its forceful incorporation.
[3] The former solicitor having refused the file, it is difficult for the applicant to show the existence of an arguable case for leave. A valiant attempt has been made, sufficient in my view, to permit the extension of time to file the record. The conduct of the former solicitor makes it necessary to allow a further extension to obtain the necessary elements of the file from the government records.
ORDER
The time for filing the applicant's record is extended to the first day of May, 1998.
"Peter A.K. Giles"
A.S.P.
Toronto, Ontario
April 3, 1998
FEDERAL COURT OF CANADA
Date: 19980403
Docket: IMM-161-98
BETWEEN:
AHMED ISSA OMAR AL-MAZROUY
Applicant
- and -
THE MINISTER OF CITIZENSHIP
AND IMMIGRATION
Respondent
REASONS FOR ORDER AND ORDER
FEDERAL COURT OF CANADA
Names of Counsel and Solicitors of Record
DOCKET: IMM-161-98
STYLE OF CAUSE: AHMED ISSA OMAR AL-MAZROUY
-and-
| THE MINISTER OF CITIZENSHIP |
| AND IMMIGRATION |
CONSIDERED AT TORONTO, ONTARIO UNDER THE PROVISION OF
RULE 324.
REASONS FOR ORDER
AND ORDER BY: GILES, A.S.P.
DATED: APRIL 3, 1998
SOLICITORS OF RECORD: Mr. Neil Cohen
Barrister and Solicitor
2 College Street, Suite 115
Toronto, Ontario
M5G 1K3
For the Applicant
Mr. George Thomson
Deputy Attorney General
of Canada
For the Respondent