Sivamayan v. Canada ( Minister of Citizenship and Immigration )
IMM-5216-98
Pelletier J.
30/7/99
9 pp.
Application for judicial review of decision by Convention Refugee Determination Division (CRDD) applicant not Convention refugee-Applicant young Tamil male, refugee from Sri Lanka-Claims to fear persecution in Sri Lanka because each of Sri Lankan Army (SLA), Tamil Tigers believe he has connections with other-Presiding member of CRDD asking for written submissions from applicant's counsel on limited number of points-Then deciding case against applicant on ground other than those on which representations solicited-CRDD's could not decide case against applicant without giving him opportunity to speak to questions giving rise to CRDD's views of case-Where tribunal indicates to counsel it wishes to hear from him on certain issues, implicit other issues will not be determinative of claim-Tribunal not precluded from considering other issues, but if it wishes to decide case on basis of other issues, fairness, natural justice require applicant be allowed to speak to those issues, given prior indication tribunal did not consider issues to be conclusive of claim-When counsel gave specific indication in brief he was withholding comment on other issues at request of CRDD, incumbent on CRDD to correct misunderstanding if it wished to decide case as it did-Problem created by request for limited representations, not by counsel-If counsel misunderstood CRDD's instructions, incumbent upon CRDD to clarify instructions when misunderstanding became apparent-Applicant denied fair hearing-Application allowed.