2023 RLLR 152
Citation: 2023 RLLR 152
Tribunal: Refugee Protection Division
Date of Decision: December 5, 2023
Panel: Olachi Nwachukwu
Counsel for the Claimant(s): Lindsey K Weppler
Country: China
RPD Number: TC2-16865
Associated RPD Number(s): TC2-16867
ATIP Number: A-2024-00894
ATIP Pages: N/A
DECISION
[1] MEMBER: These are the reasons for the decision in the refugee claims of XXXX XXXX, the principal claimant and her daughter XXXX XXXX XXXX, the minor claimant who claims to be citizens of China and is claiming refugee protection pursuant to section 96 and 97 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act. The Panel has considered your testimony and the other evidence in the case ready to render its decision orally. The Tribunal designated XXXX XXXX as representative for the minor claimant included in the claim XXXX XXXX XXXX. During the hearing and in rendering its reasons, the Panel has applied the Chairperson’s Guideline 4 Consideration in Proceedings before the Immigration and Refugee Board and Guideline 3 on Child Refugee Claimants Procedural and Evidentiary Issues. The Panel finds that the claimants are Convention refugees pursuant to section 96 of the IRPA as there exists a serious possibility of execution, should the claimants return to China on account of their religion.
[2] The Panel’s reasons are as follows. Your allegations are set out in your Basis of Claim form found in Exhibit 2, and the amendment to your narrative found in Exhibit 13 and further explained in your oral testimony. In summary, you fear that if you return to China, you will face persecution and other risks due to your religion as a Christian and a member of an underground church. You further alleged that the minor claimant was denied the right to a Christian education in China. You fear being arrested because of your participation in an unregistered church has come to the attention of the authorities in China and you allege that you are unable to practice your Christian religion anywhere in China.
[3] Your personal identities and nationality as citizens of China have been established on a balance of probability. This has been established through the principal claimant’s testimony, which she testified during the hearing in Mandarin Chinese, your Chinese passport included at Exhibit 1, and by your resident ID card. The Panel has examined your claims under section 96 of the IRPA as the Panel concludes that the risk you described constitutes persecution based on at least one of the grounds prescribed in section 96, specifically your religion as a member of a house church in China. In assessing credibility, the Panel is cognizant of the difficulties that you may face in establishing your refugee claim, specifically social and cultural factors, as well as the (inaudible) of the virtual hearing environment, coupled with the stress inherent in responding to the questions through an interpreter. Furthermore, in assessing the credibility of the evidence that you have presented in support of your refugee claim, the Panel is guided by the principles established in the Federal Court of Appeals decision in Maldonado. The principle asserted in Maldonado is that when a refugee claimant swears the truth of certain allegations, a presumption is created that those allegations are true unless there are reasons to doubt your truthfulness. The minor claimant does not have a narrative of her own and relies on the narrative of the principal claimant and the principal claimant testified during the hearing.
[4] In general, the Panel finds you to be a credible witness and believe what you have alleged. There were no major inconsistencies in your testimony or contradictions between your testimony and other evidence before the Panel that were not reasonably explained. You answered all questions with a sufficient level of detail and spontaneity. Your testimony was also consistent with information included in the pool of entry notes included at Exhibit 1, which were provided by CBSA. You told the Panel how you started attending a registered church in China called the Three Self Patriotic Church in 1996. You described how, after getting married to your husband XXXX XXXX XXXX (ph)in 2008 you continued to attend this church. You describe how you and your husband longed to add to your family after your daughter was born in XXXX 2009 and was overjoyed when you found out that you were expecting in 2010. You told the Panel how you were (inaudible) by your pastor, XXXX XXXX XXXX (ph) when you confided in him about your pregnancy and ordered to have the termination in accordance with the one-child policy in China. You described how you became disappointed in the Church’s teaching regarding the sanctity of life, and you began to lose your faith in the Three Self Patriotic Church because you believe that they were not adhering to biblical teachings. He told the Panel how in XXXX of 2011, you underwent the XXXX, and your husband was forced to undergo a XXXX. You described how you continued attending church and with the help of your Bible study group, you were able to provide financial support to a Christian book school, and during a visit to the school in XXXX of 2017 you decided to enroll your child in the Bible school.
[5] You told the Panel how, despite the warning, that the Bible school could be shut down because of escalating restrictions on Christians by the Chinese authority. You enrolled your child in a Christian book school in XXXX of 2017. Your evidence is that the school was shut down in XXXX 2017 after your daughter started attending. You described how the Bible school made several attempts to continue operating but was shut down on multiple locations. You describe how you finally left the Three Self Patriotic Church in XXXX of 2018, after becoming disillusioned with their teaching and activities. You told the Panel how on leaving the church, you became blacklisted and considered as a dissident. You told the Panel how you started attending a house church in Nanchang with your daughter and your husband later joined. You and your daughter were then recommended to receive XXXX training in XXXX by your house congregation. You describe how you and your daughter grew in your faith at the training in XXXX and had a deeper understanding of your faith and returned to China in XXXX of 2018.
[6] You told the Panel that you did not make any claim in XXXX because you did not know that you could. The Panel accepts your explanation as reasonable and do not make any negative credibility findings. You told the Panel that in XXXX of 2018 and before your return from XXXX, your house church came to the attention of the Public Service Bureau hearing after PBS and was declared illegal and sealed off. Your evidence is that in XXXX of 2018, you were visited by the members of the PBS and questions on you’re the purpose of your trip to XXXX. You were warned not to engage in illegal church activities. You described how on several occasions your house church congregation moved their location of the house church and divided yourselves into smaller groups, but you were shut down consistently by the authorities. You provided a certificate from XXXX XXXX XXXX (ph) in XXXX confirming your XXXX training, a membership certificate from XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX (ph) confirming your attendance of the house church. After reviewing this document, the Panel finds that it has no reason to doubt the authenticity as such, the Panel places weight on these documents in establishing your allegation. Based on your consistent testimony and the supporting evidence, the Panel finds that you have established on a balance of probabilities that you attended the house church in China and through the recommendation of the church you attended XXXX training in XXXX.
[7] You describe how your family decided to leave China and come to Canada in XXXX 2021 to make your claim after the teachers in the Christian book school that your daughter attended were summoned by the authorities, and after several attempts to practice your Christian faith in the house church was frustrated. Since you have been in Canada, you have been active with your Christian faith. You told the Panel how you joined an online Bible study group shortly after arriving in Canada in XXXX of 2021. You described to the Panel how your daughter is a member of the Children’s Worship Team in XXXX XXXX XXXX and how you have continued to grow in your faith with your family in Canada. You describe how you have found peace, joy, and hope, and the freedom to practice your religion without any restrictions. You are devoted to your faith and now attend church services and engage in activities as well at XXXX XXXX XXXX in London, ON and XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX. You told the Panel about your favorite passage in the Bible and also told the Panel about the Trinity establishing your Christian knowledge in support of your claim.
[8] In support of your claim, you submitted a letter of support from XXXX XXXX and XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX confirming your participation in the activities of their church, a letter of appreciation for your charitable donations to XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX in Canada, a certificate of baptism from Chengdu, a letter of support from your husband and the father of the minor claimant corroborating your allegation. You also submitted several photographs showing your participation in different church activities in China, XXXX, and Canada. The Panel finds the supporting documents to be credible and trustworthy and gives them weight. In view of the above and giving your commitment to your faith, the Panel finds that you have established on a balance of probabilities that you are a genuine Christian, that you are genuine Christian believers who attended an underground church in China. The Panel also finds that if you were to return to China, you would not be able to practice your religion freely. Considering the totality of the evidence, the Panel finds that you have established a subjective fear of persecution should you return to China based on your religion.
[9] The National Documentation Package also known as the NDP for China in Exhibit 3, indicates that the underground Church Christian practitioners in China face a serious risk of persecution and are increasingly regarded as a political threat to the Chinese government. Item 12.6 of the documentary evidence indicates that it is possible that some unregistered Protestant groups or individual Protestants might come to the attention of the authorities and face persecution. Item 2.12 indicates that the underground church participants have increasingly been subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention, and recommend China be designated as a country of particular concern when gouging in systematic ongoing violation of religious freedom as defined by the International Religious Freedom Act. Item 12.4 also indicates that the State has imposed new regulations relating to religious practice, which grounds far-reaching State controls over every aspect of religious practice and extend powers to authorities. All levels of government to monitor, control, and potentially punish religious practitioners. Item 12.28 also reports that the Chinese authorities have repeatedly stated that one of the aims of the new regulation is to eliminate independent house churches. Item 12.2 also indicates that more than 5000 Christians were arrested in 2018 because of their fate or religious practices and Item 12.1 states that the Chinese authorities have continued to arrest Christians and have enforced more limitations on their activities, including requiring Christian churches to install surveillance cameras to enable daily police monitoring and compelling members of house churches and other Christians to sign documents renouncing their Christian faith and church membership.
[10] Based on the country evidence in the National Documentation Package for China, your testimony, and your corroboratory documents, the Panel finds that your claim is-, your claims are objectively well-founded and that you would face a serious possibility of persecution due to your involvement with the underground church, which has come to the attention of the authorities if you were to return to China. Based on your personal circumstances as well as the objective country documentation, the Panel concludes that is objectively unreasonable for you to seek protection from the authorities in China. In this case, the agent of prosecution is a State. Therefore, the Panel finds that if you were to return to China, there will be no state protection available to you. The above objective evidence suggests that there raised a serious possibility of persecution throughout the country based on your religion. Given that the state is the agent of persecution with control over the entire country, the Panel finds that there is serious possibility of persecution throughout China and therefore a viable IFA does not exist for both claimants. Therefore, based on the totality of the evidence, the Panel finds that the principal claimant and the minor claimant will face a serious possibility of persecution throughout China if they were to return there based on their religion, and therefore the Panel finds that you are a Convention refugee and accepts your claim.
——— REASONS CONCLUDED ———