Pourkazemi v. Canada ( Minister of Citizenship and Immigration )
IMM-4965-97
Lutfy J.
17/11/98
13 pp.
Self-employed person-Application for judicial review of visa officer's decision applicant's intended business "would not be of benefit" to Canada within meaning of "self-employed person", applicant had not demonstrated required knowledge to establish successful convenience store in Canada-Applicant citizen of Iran residing in Hamburg, Germany since 1985-Applied in 1996 for permanent residence in Canada as self-employed person with intention of establishing convenience store in Toronto-Definition of "self-employed person" in Immigration Regulations, 1978 raising two tests: (a) whether applicant had ability to establish intended business in Canada; (b) whether business will make significant contribution to economy of Canada-Visa officer answered both questions in negative-Applicant had not visited Canada, had no business contacts here-Had neither targeted business for acquisition nor identified premises to establish one-Unaware of convenience store hours in Canada, of cost of purchasing such business-Had no information concerning success of similar enterprises in Canada-Visa officer concluding proposed business not likely to be successful, would not make significant contribution to economy of Canada-Applicant's principal challenge visa officer focussed unduly on criteria of "significant contribution to economy of Canada-Irrelevant whether visa officer focussed first on applicant's ability to meet regulatory definition of "self-employed person" or followed process suggested by counsel-Test of "significant contribution to economy of Canada" included in definitions of "self-employed person", "entrepreneur"-Both definitions also speaking of immigrant's intention to establish business-Words "intends to be" in Regulations, s. 8(1)(b) not having meaning, impact urged by applicant-Immigrant must demonstrate, prior to landing, intention, ability to become selfemployed in Canada in accordance with first test in regulatory definition, Regulations, s. 8(4)-Points raised by applicant to establish visa officer's denial of procedural fairness not warranting Court's intervention-Concept of "significant contribution to economy" fluid one-Meaning will depend on circumstances of each case-Open to visa officer to conclude applicant had not focussed sufficiently on business plan-Visa officer must assess applications for permanent residence in manner consistent with spirit of legislation-Applicant has not demonstrated reviewable error in visa officer's assessment of ability to establish successfully convenience store in Toronto-Words "intends to be" in Regulations, s. 8(1)(b) not having effect of removing significant contribution test from visa officer's assessment of application-Application dismissed-Immigration Regulations, 1978, SOR/78-172, s. 8 (as am. by SOR/85-1038, s. 3).