Ortiz Torres–misconstrued evidence leading to faulty credibility analysis

Ortiz Torres v. Canada (Citizenship and Immigration), 2011 FC 67

Judge: Justice Shore

Date heard: January 17, 2011

Date decided: January 26, 2011

Counsel for Ortiz Torres: Adela Crossley

Counsel for Minister: Kareena R. Wilding

Place of Hearing: Toronto, Ontario

The Applicants were a family from Mexico, who claimed on the basis that they were in fear of the Los Zetas gang, which had influence with every level of police in every region of Mexico (paras. 1-5).

Justice Shore pointed out a number of errors. The RPD wrongly relied on a translation of documents that said the principal Applicant was a “Police Service Technician” or a “non-commissioned officer” in finding that he was not credible when he testified that he was a police officer (paras. 6-8). The Board ignored relevant evidence and misconstrued the evidence before it (paras. 20-21). The Board refused to consider the fact that documents en route to the Applicant had been seized by Canadian customs, despite the Applicant proffering evidence (paras. 22-24). Because of its errors, the Board’s negative credibility assessment was flawed. It therefore also erred in its general analysis of risk and IFA (paras. 32-33).

JUDICIAL REVIEW ALLOWED