Date: 20050602
Docket: IMM-2372-05
Citation: 2005 FC 797
BETWEEN:
MASUD AHMAD SHEIKH
Applicant
and
THE MINISTER OF CITIZENSHIP AND IMMIGRATION
Respondent
REASONS FOR ORDER
PHELAN J.
[1] The Applicant has requested a stay of deportation pending his application for judicial review and, if granted, the judicial review itself. He has applied for leave in respect of a Pre-Removal Risk Assessment (PRRA) in which he was found not to be at risk if he returned to Pakistan.
[2] His PRRA application was based on his membership in the Jammu and Kashmir People's National Party (JKPNP) which is a minority political party struggling for the independence of the provinces of Jammu and Kashmir for both India and Pakistan.
[3] The Applicant had made a refugee claim on precisely the same grounds. The Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB) rejected his claim because he was found not to be a credible and trustworthy witness. The Board held, for all intents and purposes, that he was not a member of the JKPNP, therefore he would not be persecuted on this basis.
[4] The Applicant raised a number of legal issues in respect of the PRRA decision including the absence of weight given to the Applicant's mother's letter, the failure of the PRRA Officer to undertake the verification of documents (which the Applicant had not verified), and, most importantly, the Officer's admission of conducting her own independent research of country conditions.
[5] Even if the Applicant has raised a "serious issue" as that term is used in respect of the tripartite test for the grant of a stay, the Applicant faces the significant hurdle of establishing irreparable harm.
[6] The harm which the Applicant alleges arises from his membership in the JKPNP. There has been a finding by the IRB, which remains undisturbed, that the Applicant failed to prove his membership. It therefore follows that within the PRRA context he has no objective basis for his fear of being returned.
[7] His legal challenges in Canada are unaffected by his removal. His H & C application, filed a week ago, cannot form the basis for a request for a stay. Nor can his claim that a business he set up will suffer - this is a natural consequence of a deportation.
[8] Therefore having failed to satisfy the Court that he will suffer irreparable harm if the stay is not granted, this application must be dismissed.
(s) "Michael Phelan"
Judge
FEDERAL COURT
NAMES OF COUNSEL AND SOLICITORS OF RECORD
DOCKET: IMM-2372-05
STYLE OF CAUSE: MASUD AHMAD SHEIKH v. THE MINISTER OF CITIZENSHIP AND IMMIGRATION
PLACE OF HEARING: TORONTO, ONTARIO
DATE OF HEARING: May 30, 2005
REASONS FOR ORDER: Phelan J.
DATED: June 2, 2005
APPEARANCES:
Mr. Daniel Kwong FOR THE APPLICANT
Ms. Jeremiah Eastman FOR THE RESPONDENT
SOLICITORS ON THE RECORD:
Green and Spiegel
Toronto, Ontario FOR THE APPLICANT
Mr. John H. Sims, Q.C.
Deputy Attorney General of Canada
Ottawa, Ontario FOR THE RESPONDENT