Date: 19980525
Docket: IMM-4575-97
Between :
ANA KARINA GARCIA QUIROZ, and
TITIANA GARCIA QUIROZ
Applicants
- and -
THE MINISTER OF CITIZENSHIP
AND IMMIGRATION
Respondent
REASONS FOR ORDER
PINARD, J. :
[1] This is an application for judicial review of a decision by a senior immigration officer of the Convention Refugee Determination Division of the Immigration and Refugee Board dated October 15, 1997 wherein the said officer determined that the applicants are not eligible to have their claims determined by the Refugee Division.
[2] The applicants, Ana Karina Garcia Quiroz and Tatiana Garcia Quiroz, are sisters from Cochabamba, Bolivia. They left Bolivia in 1994 and arrived in Canada with other family members on December 31, 1994. They first claimed refugee status on January 5, 1995.
[3] The applicants state that they left Canada with Ana's husband and infant son on October 3, 1995, travelling from Vancouver, B.C. to Miami, Florida, via Toronto, Ontario. They say that they subsequently travelled to Sao Paulo, Brazil to attempt to locate the whereabouts of Ana's husband's mother.
[4] In their absence from Canada, the applicants' claim for refugee status was deemed to have been abandoned on March 26, 1996.
[5] They state that they returned to Canada on February 17, 1997 and advanced their last claims to be considered as Convention refugees on February 20, 1997.
[6] On October 15, 1997, the applicants appeared before a senior immigration officer (the immigration officer) pursuant to a Notice to Appear under subsection 27(4) of the Immigration Act (the Act). It was incumbent upon the applicants to show that they were outside of the country for more than 90 days in order to permit them to have their second refugee claims processed, given that the first claims were deemed abandoned on March 26, 1996.
[7] At the conclusion of the hearing, the immigration officer determined that there were no materials or documents produced by the applicants under their own names which showed that they had been out of Canada for the requisite period as set out in subsection 46.01(5)1 of the Act. The applicants were issued departure notices, and were found not to be eligible to advance their claims as Convention refugees made on February 20, 1997.
[8] The applicants submit that the immigration officer erred in failing to accept the airplane and bus tickets as valid proof of their absence from Canada. However it should be noted that the airplane tickets, which only indicate a round-trip between Vancouver and Miami, via Toronto, showed a return date of one week after the departure date, and the bus tickets were not in the applicants' names.
[9] I cannot accept that it was perverse or capricious on the part of the immigration officer to reject such travel documents which were not in the applicants' names as failing to show that they had been outside of the country for the requisite period of time. As the applicants have failed to show that they were denied the opportunity to adduce any relevant evidence, I find that it was not unreasonable for the immigration officer to conclude as he did.
[10] Consequently, the application for judicial review is dismissed.
[11] I agree with counsel for the respondent that this case raises no question of general importance for the purpose of certification.
JUDGE
OTTAWA, ONTARIO
May 25, 1998
__________________
| 46.01 (1) A person who claims to be a Convention refugee is not eligible to have the claim determined by the Refugee Division if the person [. . .](c) has, since last coming into Canada, been determined (i) by the Refugee Division not to be a Convention refugee or to have abandoned the claim, or (ii) by a senior immigration officer not to be eligible to have the claim determined by the Refugee Division; (5) A person who goes to another country and return to Canada within ninety days shall not, for the purposes of paragraph (1)(c), be considered as coming into Canada on that return. |
46.01 (1) La revendication de statut n'est pas recevable par la section du statut si l'intéressé se trouve dans l'une ou l'autre des situations suivantes: [. . .] c) depuis sa dernière venue au Canada, il a fait l'objet: (i) soit d'une décision de la section du statut lui refusant le statut de réfugié au sens de la Convention ou établissant le désistement de sa revendication, (ii) soit d'une décision d'irrecevabilité de sa revendication par un agent principal; (5) La rentrée au Canada de l'intéressé après un séjour à l'étranger d'au plus quatre-vingt-dix jours n'est pas, pour l'application de l'alinéa (1)c), prise en compte pour la détermination de la date de la dernière venue de celui-ci au Canada. |