Jeffrey L. Goldman

The applicants sought judicial review of a Refugee Appeal Division (RAD) decision dismissing their appeal and confirming they were not Convention refugees.

The RAD based its dismissal partly on a new adverse credibility finding regarding the principal applicant not being her father's first daughter, an issue not raised by the Refugee Protection Division (RPD).

The Federal Court found that the RAD breached procedural fairness by relying on this new, factually distinct credibility concern without giving the applicants notice and an opportunity to respond.

The application for judicial review was allowed and the matter remitted for redetermination.

The applicants, a family from Nigeria, sought judicial review of a Refugee Appeal Division (RAD) decision dismissing their appeal on the basis of a viable internal flight alternative (IFA) in Port Harcourt or Abuja.

The applicants fled Nigeria after their meat processing factory was destroyed during a violent incident involving a cult and a vigilante group, and the principal applicant received death threats after identifying cult sponsors to the police.

The Federal Court found the RAD's IFA analysis reasonable, concluding that the cult lacked the motivation or capacity to locate the applicants outside Lagos.

The application for judicial review was dismissed.