The applicants applied for judicial review of a decision refusing their humanitarian and compassionate application under s. 25(1) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act.
The principal applicant suffered extensive sexual and physical abuse in Brazil and submitted medical evidence detailing her acute PTSD and the negative mental health impacts of a return to Brazil.
The officer gave little weight to this evidence and suggested that mental health resources were available in Brazil.
The Federal Court held the officer's decision was unreasonable, as the officer improperly discounted the psychological evidence, failed to engage with the substantive issue of the impact of removal on the applicant's mental health, and conducted a flawed analysis of the best interests of the children by failing to assess their interest in their mother's mental well-being.
