CITIZENSHIP AND IMMIGRATION |
Status in Canada |
Convention Refugees |
Simonfi v. Canada (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration)
IMM-1417-01
2002 FCT 886, Dawson J.
19/8/02
9 pp.
Judicial review of CRDD's decision applicant not Convention refugee--Applicant Romanian citizen, part of ethnic Hungarian minority--Basing fear of persecution on inability to earn livelihood, fear of discrimination, harassment, persecution if conscripted into Romanian army--CRDD finding experiences as recent graduate not unlike graduates in many countries who have difficulty securing employment in chosen field--Handbook on Procedures and Criteria for Determining Refugee Status of Office of United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (1992) stating discrimination amounting to persecution if measures of discrimination leading to consequences of substantially prejudicial nature for person concerned eg. serious restrictions on right to earn livelihood, practise religion, or access to normally available educational facilities--No documentary evidence before CRDD from disinterested party indicating discrimination against ethnic Hungarians in obtaining employment at level amounting to persecution--Open to CRDD on evidence before it to conclude employment experience not atypical for recently graduated secondary, post-secondary graduates, especially those living in country in transition from centrally planned economy to market economy--Evidence not establishing serious restraint on individual's freedom to find work as has been found to constitute persecution (Xie v. Canada (Minister of Employment and Immigration) (1994), 75 F.T.R. 125 (F.C.A.))--Fear of military service stemming from stories heard from others about experiences of conscripted ethnic Hungarians--More serious incidents of treatment occurred in early 1990s--Case wherein differently constituted panel of CRDD finding ethnic-Hungarian claimant Convention refugee based on credible stories told by other conscripted ethnic Hungarians not assisting applicant--On application for judicial review of CRDD decision, standard of review patent unreasonableness, meaning decision cannot be set aside even if Court would have weighed factors differently --CRDD considered all of evidence with respect to accounts of mistreatment of ethnic-Hungarians in Romanian military, and concluded such discrimination not amounting to persecution--Application dismissed.