Canada (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration) v. Halindintwali, 2015 FC 390

• Judge: Bédard, J.
• Court: Federal Court (Canada)
• Case Date: January 13, 2015
• Jurisdiction: Canada (Federal)
• Citations: 2015 FC 390;[2015] F.T.R. TBEd. AU.040

Can. (M.C.I.) v. Halindintwali, [2015] F.T.R. TBEd. AU.040

MLB being edited

Currently being edited for F.T.R. - judgment temporarily in rough form.

Temp. Cite: [2015] F.T.R. TBEd. AU.040

The Minister of Citizenship and Immigration (plaintiff) v. Célestin Halindintwali (defendant)

(T-1952-13; 2015 FC 390)

Indexed As: Canada (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration) v. Halindintwali

Federal Court

Bédard, J.

March 27, 2015.

Summary:

The Minister of Citizenship and Immigration sought a declaration, pursuant to s. 18(1)(b) of the Citizenship Act, that Halindintwali (defendant) obtained his permanent residence status, and consequently his Canadian citizenship, by false representation or fraud or by knowingly concealing material circumstances.

The Federal Court granted the declaration. The court held that the Minister had established, on a balance of probabilities, that the defendant acquired Canadian citizenship by fraud and by concealing material circumstances when he applied for permanent residence. The court was not convinced on a balance of probabilities that the defendant had committed a crime or crimes against humanity.

Aliens - Topic 2504

Naturalization - General - Revocation (incl. loss of citizenship) - The Minister of Citizenship and Immigration sought a declaration, under s. 18(1)(b) of the Citizenship Act, that Halindintwali (defendant) obtained his permanent residence status, and consequently his Canadian citizenship, by false representation or fraud or by knowingly concealing material circumstances - The Minister claimed, inter alia, that the defendant falsely stated that he was Burundian, and not Rwandan, in order to enable him to be accepted as a refugee by Canadian authorities and lied when he claimed he did not participate in crimes against humanity in Rwanda - The Federal Court reviewed the legal framework on a proceeding under s. 18, including the burden and standard of proof and the legal test - In the result the court granted the declaration - The court held that the Minister had established, on a balance of probabilities, that the defendant acquired Canadian citizenship by fraud and by concealing material circumstances when he applied for permanent residence (e.g., his place of birth, marriage and citizenship) - The court was not convinced on a balance of probabilities that the defendant had committed a crime or crimes against humanity - See paragraphs 22 to 128.

Aliens - Topic 2504

Naturalization - General - Revocation (incl. loss of citizenship) - The Minister of Citizenship and Immigration sought a declaration, pursuant to s. 18(1)(b) of the Citizenship Act, that Halindintwali (defendant) obtained his citizenship by false representation or fraud or by knowingly concealing material circumstances (incl. that he had participated in crimes against humanity in Rwanda) - An RCMP investigator, in his affidavit, presented as evidence a number of exhibits that had been submitted to the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) - The Federal Court considered the certified documents from the ICTR to be admissible as evidence under the authority of s. 23 of the Canada Evidence Act - The court opined that although the ICTR was not a court of a "foreign country", it could be likened to an international court of several countries, and there was no reason to doubt the authenticity of the documents in question because the copies included in the file were certified by the ICTR, which was created through a resolution of the United Nations Security Council - See paragraphs 94 and 95.

Aliens - Topic 2504

Naturalization - General - Revocation (incl. loss of citizenship) - The Minister of Citizenship and Immigration sought a declaration, pursuant to s. 18(1)(b) of the Citizenship Act, that Halindintwali (defendant) obtained his citizenship by false representation or fraud or by knowingly concealing material circumstances (incl. that he had participated in crimes against humanity in Rwanda) - An RCMP investigator, in his affidavit, referred to a number of out-of-court witness statements to support the allegation the defendant had participated in genocide - The witnesses were not called to testify - The Federal Court held that the criteria of necessity and reliability were not met such as to justify admissibility of the witnesses' out-of-court statements - The court opined that even if it had admitted the out-of-court statements of the witnesses, it would have accorded little probative value to that evidence - The court stated that it was insufficient to rely on hearsay evidence to support a conclusion that a person committed a crime against humanity when the Minister had not convinced the court it would have been impossible or unreasonable to produce better evidence - See paragraphs 104 to 118.

Aliens - Topic 2548

Naturalization - Disqualifications - Making false representation or concealing material circumstances - [See first Aliens - Topic 2504 ].

Evidence - Topic 1527

Hearsay rule - Hearsay rule exceptions and exclusions - General - Where admission of hearsay necessary and evidence reliable - [See third Aliens - Topic 2504 ].

Evidence - Topic 3757

Documentary evidence - Public documents - General - Foreign documents - [See second Aliens - Topic 2504 ].

Cases Noticed:

Canada (Ministre de la Citoyenneté et de l'Immigration) v. Obodzinsky, [2003] 2 F.C. 657; 305 N.R. 238; 2002 FCA 518, refd to. [para. 12].

Canada (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration) v. Tobiass et al., [1997] 3 S.C.R. 391; 218 N.R. 81, refd to. [para. 12].

Canada (Ministre de la Citoyenneté et de l'Immigration) v. Aguilar, [2001] F.T.R. Uned. 965; 109 A.C.W.S.(3d) 209, refd to. [para. 21].

Canada (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration) v. Furman (2006), 298 F.T.R. 163; 2006 FC 993, refd to. [para. 24].

Canada (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration) v. Skomatchuk, [2006] F.T.R. Uned. 893; 2006 FC 994, refd to. [para. 24].

Canada (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration) v. Rogan (2011), 396 F.T.R. 47; 2011 FC 1007, refd to. [para. 24].

Canada (Attorney General) v. Ward, [1993] 2 S.C.R. 689; 153 N.R. 321, refd to. [para. 29].

F.H. v. McDougall, [2008] 3 S.C.R. 41; 380 N.R. 82; 260 B.C.A.C. 74; 439 W.A.C. 74; 2008 SCC 53, refd to. [para. 32].

Teavana Corp. v. Teayama Inc. (2014), 453 F.T.R. 102; 2014 FC 372, refd to. [para. 34].

Louis Vuitton Malletier S.A. et al. v. Yang et al., [2007] F.T.R. Uned. 803; 2007 FC 1179, refd to. [para. 34].

Louis Vuitton Malletier S.A. v. Lin - see Louis Vuitton Malletier S.A. et al. v. Yang et al.

Aquasmart Technologies Inc. v. Klassen (2011), 384 F.T.R. 311; 2011 FC 212, refd to. [para. 34].

Canada (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration) v. Savic (2014), 456 F.T.R. 38; 2014 FC 523, refd to. [para. 37].

R. v. Mungwarere (J.), [2013] O.T.C. Uned. 4594; 2013 ONSC 4594, refd to. [para. 42].

Canada (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration) v. Halindintwali (2014), 464 F.T.R. 129; 2014 FC 909, refd to. [para. 48].

Mugesera et al. v. Canada (Ministre de la Citoyenneté et de l'Immigration), [2005] 2 S.C.R. 100; 335 N.R. 229; 2005 SCC 40, refd to. [para. 89].

Ezokola v. Canada (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration), [2013] 2 S.C.R. 678; 447 N.R. 254; 2013 SCC 40, refd to. [para. 90].

Oberlander v. Canada (Attorney General) (2009), 396 N.R. 146; 2009 FCA 330, refd to. [para. 95].

Munyaneza v. R., [2014] Q.L. No. 3059; 2014 QCCA 906, refd to. [para. 95]

R. v. Khelawon (R.). [2006] 2 S.C.R. 787; 355 N.R. 267; 220 O.A.C. 338; 2006 SCC 57, refd to. [para. 101].

Canada (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration) v. Bogutin (1997), 136 F.T.R. 40 (T.D.), refd to. [para. 114].

Canada (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration) v. Huntley (2010), 375 F.T.R. 250; 2010 FC 1175, refd to. [para. 116].

Seymour Stephens v. Canada (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration), [2013] F.T.R. Uned. 284; 2013 FC 609, refd to. [para. 116].

Tataskweyak Cree Nation v. Sinclair (2007), 320 F.T.R. 1; 2007 FC 1107, refd to. [para. 116].

Sierra Club of Canada v. Canada (Minister of Finance) et al., [2002] 2 S.C.R. 522; 287 N.R. 203; 2002 SCC 41, refd to. [Appendix A, para. 25].

Canadian Broadcasting Corp. v. Dagenais et al., [1994] 3 S.C.R. 835; 175 N.R. 1; 76 O.A.C. 81; 1994 CanLII 39, refd to. [Appendix A, para. 25].

Canadian Broadcasting Corp. v. New Brunswick (Attorney General), [1996] 3 S.C.R. 480; 203 N.R. 169; 185 N.B.R.(2d) 81; 463 A.P.R. 81; 1996 CanLII 84, refd to. [Appendix A, para. 25].

R. v. Mentuck (C.G.), [2001] 3 S.C.R. 442; 277 N.R. 160; 163 Man.R.(2d) 1; 2001 SCC 76, refd to. [Appendix A, para. 25].

Canadian Broadcasting Corp. v. Canada (Attorney General) et al., [2011] 1 S.C.R. 65; 411 N.R. 75; 2011 SCC 3, refd to. [Appendix A, para. 27].

Singer v. Canada (Attorney General) (2011), 414 N.R. 246; 196 A.C.W.S.(3d) 717; 2011 FCA 3, refd to. [Appendix A, para. 28].

Bah v. Canada (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration) (2014), 460 F.T.R. 75; 2014 FC 693, refd to. [Appendix A, para. 28].

British Columbia Lottery Corp. v. Canada (Attorney General) (2013), 451 F.T.R. 1; 2013 FC 307, refd to. [Appendix A, para. 28].

McCabe v. Canada (Attorney General), 2000 CanLII 15987 (F.C.), refd to. [Appendix A, para. 28].

R. v. Munyaneza, 2001 QCCS 7113, refd to. [Appendix A, para. 33].

R. v. Mungwarere, 2011 CSON 1247, refd to. [Appendix A., para. 33].

Statutes Noticed:

Citizenship Act, R.S.C. 1985, c. C-29, sect. 10(1) [para. 7]; sect. 18 [para. 10].

Counsel:

Sébastien Dasylva and Dieudonné Detchou, for the plaintiff.

Solicitors of Record:

William F. Pentney, Deputy Attorney General of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, for the plaintiff.

This matter was heard in Montreal, Quebec, on January 13, 2015, before Bédard, J., of the Federal Court who delivered the following decision in Ottawa, Ontario, on March 27, 2015.