Case Law

The Trumpist Contagion?   The sequence of facts I am about to reveal sounds so far fetched, so Orwellian in its bureaucratic absurdity that one would assume I am either writing a piece of fiction or describing a sequence of events in some far off dysfunctional country in Africa or the Middle East.  Sadly, this […]

  Understanding the “First Safe Country” Concept and Why it’s Obsolete Until the Syrian refugee crisis, it was accepted by those who practice refugee law that a claimant’s failure to make a claim in the First Safe Country—also known as Forum Shopping—could be interpreted by decision makers as evidence that a claimant lacked a subjective […]

In the recent case of Zhen Xiang, 2013, FC 256, lawyers from Levine Associates argued that the Board member had erred by failing to put the claimant on notice, prior to the hearing, that it had concerns about the accuracy of the photograph in the claimant’s Resident Identity Card. The Court noted that the Screening […]

Mr. Justice Zinn has handed down a very clear decision accepting the claimant’s application for Judicial Review.   The Court concluded that the Board’s decision was wholly based on a misinterpretation of the CHN42444.  Mr. Justice Zinn noted that unlike some of the other cases dealing with the issue of summonses, in the present case […]

Facts:  Claimant is a Christian and sought protection because of religious persecution in China.  The panel accepted the claimant was a genuine Christian but did not accept that he was being sought by the police in China.  The panel’s finding in this regard was based upon its finding that the summons tendered by the claimant […]

Facts: The applicant is a Christian from Guangdong province and fears returning to China for reasons of religious persecution.  The panel accepted the applicant was a genuine Christian.  The only issue was whether she would face persecution upon return to China.  The RPD determined that if the applicant was to return to her home province […]

Yu Chen v. M.C.I., 2012 FC 510 Facts: The applicant is a 22 year old Christian from Liaoning Province in the PRC and seeks refugee protection.  The applicant’s house church was raided.  The applicant was given notice of the raid and escaped.  After going into hiding the applicant learned that the PSB were looking for […]

Application by Wang for judicial review of a decision by the Refugee Protection Division of the Immigration and Refugee Board refusing his application for refugee or protection status. The applicant was a recent convert to Christianity. He attended an underground church that was raided by the P.S.B. The applicant went into hiding during which time the PSB visited his home and left a summons with his wife. The applicant fled to Canada using a fraudulent passport and claimed refugee protection.

Application for judicial review.

Wang feared that if returned he would be unable to practice his Roman Catholic religion freely. The panel found Wang was never a genuine practicing Roman Catholic, and his level of religious knowledge was below what would be expected for three years of practice.

Application allowed. The Board’s finding that the claimant’s story was “too fortuitous to be true” was not reasonable The fact that a summons was not left for the claimant was corroborated by the documentation which indicates that the practice of issuing summons is inconsistent. The Board’s finding that the claimant could practise at a state sanctioned […]