Date: 20050714
Docket: IMM-10566-04
Citation: 2005 FC 963
BETWEEN:
FATOUMATA CONTE
Applicant
-and-
MINISTER OF CITIZENSHIP
AND IMMIGRATION
Respondent
REASONS FOR ORDER
PINARD J.
[1] This is an application for judicial review of a decision by the Refugee Protection Division of the Immigration and Refugee Board (the IRB) dated December 2, 2004, that the applicant, a citizen of Guinea, is not a AConvention refugee@ or a Aperson on need of protection@ as defined in sections 96 and 97, respectively, of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, S.C. 2001, c. 27.
[2] The applicant alleged that she has been alienated by her community since 1987. The incident of December 2003 B when rocks were thrown against the walls of her apartment and she was accused of being an unfit mother B were the events that prompted her to flee Guinea. However, as the IRB points out in its decision, the applicant had already begun to take steps to leave Guinea in August, as she had written to her niece. The evidence also shows that the applicant planned to leave in 2004, that she had in her possession a Guinean passport issued on September 10, 2003, an American visa issued on January 21, 2004, and money from her niece that she had had since February 2004. Despite that, the applicant waited until March 21, 2004, to leave her country. In my opinion, the IRB could reasonably determine that this conduct is inconsistent with any fear and that it tainted the applicant=s credibility.
[3] Further, the applicant travelled through France and stayed in the United States with
her niece for three weeks without making a refugee claim. In my opinion, it was not
patently unreasonable for the IRB to criticize her for that omission, as the United States
is a signatory country of the 1967 Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees (see Pan v.
Canada (M.E.I.), [1994] F.C.J. No. 1116 (F.C.A.) (QL) and Assadi v. Canada (M.C.I.), [1997] F.C.J. No. 331 (QL)).
[4] Therefore, all of the applicant=s actions or inactions indicate that she had intended to leave the country before the alleged acts which brought about her fear and that she did not have a genuine subjective fear. Under the circumstances, the absence of a subjective fear is enough to bring about the dismissal of the application for judicial review (see, inter alia, the decisions of the Federal Court in Taj v. Canada (M.C.I.), [2004] F.C.J. No. 880 (QL), Iracanye v. Canada (M.C.I.), [2002] F.C.J. No. 739 (QL), Monteiro v. Canada (M.C.I.), [2002] F.C.J. No. 1720 (QL), Anandasivam v. Canada (M.C.I.), [2001] F.C.J. No. 1519 (QL), Gamassi v. Canada (M.C.I.), [2000] F.C.J. No. 1841 (QL), Kamana v. Canada (M.C.I.), [1999] F.C.J. No. 1695 (QL), Tabet-Zatla v. Canada (M.E.I.), [1999] F.C.J. No. 1778 (QL) and Ilie v. Canada (M.C.I.), [1994] F.C.J. No. 1758 (QL)).
[5] For all of these reasons, the application for judicial review is dismissed.
AYvon Pinard@
JUDGE
OTTAWA, ONTARIO
July 14, 2005
Certified true translation
Kelley Harvey, BCL, LLB
FEDERAL COURT
SOLICITORS OF RECORD
DOCKET: IMM-10566-04
STYLE OF CAUSE: FATOUMATA CONTE v. MINISTER OF CITIZENSHIP AND IMMIGRATION
PLACE OF HEARING: Montréal, Quebec
DATE OF HEARING: June 22, 2005
REASONS FOR ORDER: Pinard J.
DATE OF REASONS: July 14, 2005
APPEARANCES:
Annick Legault FOR THE APPLICANT
Marie-Claude Paquette FOR THE RESPONDENT
SOLICITORS OF RECORD:
Annick Legault FOR THE APPLICANT
Montréal, Quebec
John H. Sims, Q.C. FOR THE RESPONDENT
Deputy Attorney General of Canada
Date: 20050714
Docket: IMM-10566-04
Ottawa, Ontario, the 14th day of July 2005
PRESENT: THE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE PINARD
BETWEEN:
FATOUMATA CONTE
Applicant
-and-
MINISTER OF CITIZENSHIP
AND IMMIGRATION
Respondent
ORDER
The application for judicial review of the decision by the Refugee Protection Division, dated December 2, 2004, that the applicant is not a AConvention refugee@ or a Aperson in need of protection@ as defined in sections 96 and 97 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, S.C. 2001, c. 27, is dismissed.
AYvon Pinard@
JUDGE
Certified true translation
Kelley Harvey, BCL, LLB