Applicants’ Backgrounds
This application was sent to find that after being refused, the applicants had the necessary humanitarian and compassionate (H&C) cause for their permanent residence applications to be accepted. It was also sent to determine the amount of time it would take for a final decision to be made. The Principal Applicant’s name is Rosaline Kargbo, and her children are the other Applicants. The applicants are citizens of Sierra Leone. In 2000, Ms. Kargbo was kidnapped and held captive in a village after travelling from her home and family to visit her sister. One year later she escaped and traveled to Canada, where she was accepted as a Convention refugee. She went on to become a permanent resident on February 2, 2006. Since her escape, a civil war occurred in her country of origin, killing her husband and disconnecting her from her children.
What Applications Were Sent by the Primary Applicant
She was later able to locate both of her children. She then submitted both a sponsorship application and permanent residence application for them to be allowed into Canada. At that time, she asked that those applications be considered on humanitarian and compassionate grounds. The application was refused twice which was found to be an error on both accounts. It was then reopened in September 2010 to be redetermined for H&C. Said redetermination had not yet happened as issues of costs, directed verdict, and timelines were to be resolved first.
Analysis of Request for Costs for Humanitarian & Compassionate Application
In terms of the issue of costs, the Applicants were requesting $8000 worth. This was considered, as the Applicants are not able to fund this legal process. Additionally, they have experienced many hardships and a drawn-out application process. This lengthy application process, due to the numerous mistakes of the Respondent also caused the costs to increase. That said, the immigration rule states that costs should only be awarded in the Court finds “special reasons”. Special reasons would be if “one party has engaged in conduct which is unfair, oppressive, improper or actuated by bad faith or has unnecessarily or unreasonably prolonged proceedings”. While the Respondent’s errors had lengthened the process as mentioned, they had already incurred appropriate costs to cover that aspect.
Decision Regarding Refused Humanitarian and Compassionate Application Costs
Nevertheless, it was still necessary to consider the other grounds which constitute special reasons. Those being where it is stated that “where one party has acted in a manner that may be characterized as unfair, oppressive, improper or actuated by bad faith”. It was then said that the Applicants had experienced great amounts of trauma and been treated in an insensitive fashion. This was further proven, as the Minister had resisted giving a final decision despite the Applicants continued requests for the matter to be resolved quickly. The Minister then cooperated but, the court still found that appropriate costs to be awarded would come to $4000. This compensation would recognize the past unfairness.
Resolution of Directed Verdict and Timelines
In regard to the directed verdict, the court determined that the Applicants’ Refused Humanitarian and Compassionate Application Costs would likely no longer be refused on the humanitarian and compassionate grounds but that the decision should be remitted to a different officer for consideration. The court understood that though a proper directed verdict decision should be made soon, they must be cautious as the discretion remains with the Minister. Finally, at the hearing, they concluded a timeline. The court decided that the finalization of the Applicant’s permanent residence application was to happen no more than 30 days after a receipt from the Minister is sent. Eleni Yeostros, intern, assisted with this post.
Contact Chaudhary Law for guidance on how you can file to have your refused humanitarian and compassionate application reconsidered.
