Two times a charm? FC overturns IRB’s decision for the second time.

by Jenny Rokhline

For the second time the Federal Court overturned the Immigration and Refugee Board’s decision denying applicant’s asylum claim, Ottawa Citizen reports.

Gabino Zacarias fled his home country Guatemala were he and his family were targeted and threatened by the leader of a street gang. After moving his family to another village, Zacarias came to Canada on a work visa and made a refugee claim a year later.

The first IRB hearing found his story credible, but the officer denied his refugee claim as not falling under the Convention refugee grounds. Judicial review that followed overturned that decision and referred the matter back to the IRB.

During the second IRB hearing that was conducted by a different Board member, Zacarias story was found to be not credible and his claim was again denied. Zacarias applied for judicial review, again.

Gleason J, in her decision, stated that it is very unusual for the court to overrule IRB’s decision pertaining to a credibility finding. However, she noted, this case was exceptional as the IRB’s ruling ignored the evidence before the Board.

It would be interesting to see how IRB deals with this asylum claim for the third time.

To read more about the court’s decision, please click here.

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