Amina Riaz

The defendant, the Attorney General of Canada, brought a motion to defer filing its statement of defence until after the certification motion in a proposed class proceeding regarding immigration detention.

The court dismissed the motion, applying the presumption that a defendant must file a statement of defence before certification unless special circumstances justify a deferral.

The court found that the legal issues were well-defined and the defendant's concerns about the complexity and resources required to prepare the defence conflated pleading preparation with discovery or trial preparation.

The applicant sought judicial review of a decision by the Refugee Appeal Division (RAD) denying his appeal of the Refugee Protection Division's (RPD) rejection of his refugee claim.

The claim was based on fear of persecution in Somalia by Al-Shabaab.

The RPD and RAD found that the applicant had not credibly established his identity as a Somali national, noting inconsistencies in his evidence, including a prior asylum claim in the US and discrepancies regarding his residence in Somalia.

The RAD refused to convene an oral hearing for new evidence.

On judicial review, the Federal Court applied the Vavilov standard of review, concluding that the RAD's failure to convoke an oral hearing was reasonable, there was no breach of procedural fairness, and the credibility and identity findings were reasonable.

The application for judicial review was dismissed.