Date: 20020709
Docket: IMM-3838-01
Neutral citation: 2002 FCT 760
Toronto, Ontario, Tuesday, the 9th day of July, 2002
PRESENT: The Honourable Mr. Justice Campbell
BETWEEN:
IBRAHIM INCEKOL
Applicant
- and -
THE MINISTER OF CITIZENSHIP AND IMMIGRATION
Respondent
- [1] This is an application for judicial review of the decision of the Convention Refugee Determination Division of the Immigration and Refugee Board ("CRDD"), dated July 19, 2001, wherein the CRDD determined that the Applicant is not a Convention refugee.
- [2] The Applicant is a citizen of Turkey who claimed a well-founded fear of persecution by the Turkish military because of his perceived political opinion as a Turkish Worker Peasant Liberation Army ("TIKKO") sympathizer and as anti-TIKKO by TIKKO itself, his Kurdish ethnicity and his Alevi religion. The substance of his claim arose from events that resulted from his interaction with TIKKO in 1999 and subsequent encounters with the military.
- [3] The Applicant testified before the CRDD that while he was working on a remote construction site, members of TIKKO approached him for assistance in charging batteries for their communications equipment. Out of fear of the repercussions of refusing, the Applicant performed the tasks on various occasions and as instructed left the charged batteries in a cave. The CRDD did not believe the Applicant's evidence based on implausibility findings. In addition, the existence of an Internal Flight Alternative in Ankara, the CRDD determined that the Applicant was not a Convention refugee.
- [4] The Applicant brings this judicial review on various grounds, including that the CRDD erred in its plausibility findings. I am in agreement and, as a result, I find it unnecessary to address the other issues raised.
- [5] The CRDD made the following implausibility findings:
- 1. It was implausible that TIKKO would have revealed the location of one of their cave hideouts for the purpose of receiving the recharged battery;
2. It was implausible that TIKKO members would be in the cave when the Applicant arrived because of the risk that they had been turned in to the authorities; and,
3. In light of the fact that the foreman and other workers at the site knew of his activities, it was implausible that the Applicant was the only one subsequently held in significant interest by the military. (CRDD Decision, p. 1-2.)
- [6] It is well-established that plausibility findings must be reasonably based upon the evidence (Aguebor v. M.E.I., [1993] F.C.J. No. 1271 (F.C.A.). In my opinion, in light of the Applicant's testimony, the above quoted findings do not meet this test.
- [7] I find that the CRDD based its plausibility findings on pure speculation. The CRDD did not find the Applicant's story to be implausible because of documentary evidence or country conditions. The CRDD instead chose to speculate on the likely conduct of TIKKO members. In failing to provide actual evidence to support these conclusions, I find that the CRDD committed a reviewable error.
ORDER
1. Accordingly, the CRDD's decision is set aside and the matter is referred back for redetermination by a different panel.
"Douglas R. Campbell"
Judge
FEDERAL COURT OF CANADA
Names of Counsel and Solicitors of Record
COURT NO: IMM-3838-01
STYLE OF CAUSE: IBRAHIM INCEKOL
Applicant
- and -
THE MINISTER OF CITIZENSHIP AND IMMIGRATION
Respondent
DATE OF HEARING: TUESDAY, JULY 9, 2002
PLACE OF HEARING: TORONTO, ONTARIO
REASONS FOR ORDER
AND ORDER BY: CAMPBELL J.
DATED: TUESDAY, JULY 9, 2002
APPEARANCES: Mr. Lorne Waldman
For the Applicant
Ms. Amina Riaz
For the Respondent
SOLICITORS OF RECORD: Jackman, Waldman & Associates
Barristers & Solicitors
281 Eglinton Avenue East
Toronto, Ontario
M4P 1L3
For the Applicant
Morris Rosenberg
Deputy Attorney General of Canada
For the Respondent
FEDERAL COURT OF CANADA
Date: 20020709
Docket:IMM-3838-01
Between:
IBRAHIM INCEKOL
Applicant
- and -
THE MINISTER OF CITIZENSHIP AND IMMIGRATION
Respondent
REASONS FOR ORDER
AND ORDER