Refugee and Protected Person Application

Is a person a refugee or a person in need of protection by Canada?

This is a situation where a person, in Canada, asks to be protected and not to be told to return to their country.

An individual may be considered a Convention refugee if they have a well-founded fear of persecution upon returning to their country of citizenship or country of legal permanent residence. There are five forms of persecution recognized by the international community:

  • race,
  • religion,
  • nationality,
  • membership of a particular social group (e.g. gender, sexual orientation, etc.) and
  • political opinion.

To claim refugee status, the fear of persecution must be one of these five forms.  The individual must demonstrate that their country is unable or unwilling to provide them with adequate state protection.

A person in need of protection is at risk of cruel and unusual punishment or death.  

To be deemed a person in need of protection, the individual must demonstrate that the risk they fear is personalized.  It cannot be a risk faced generally by people within one’s country. Consequently, a person at risk of kidnapping or extortion because they have money or are perceived as having money, face the same risk as others with money; the risk is not personalized unless there is some characteristic that led to that person, as opposed to all other affluent people, being targeted.
 

Here are examples which may lead to a person being deemed a refugee:

  • Some countries allow violence against women and a woman who is the subject of ongoing physical abuse by her husband can lead to the person being deemed a refugee;
  • A union leader who is intimidated with violent behavior by companies who enjoy implied support from their country’s government.
  • A civil rights campaigner who is oppressed by their Government;
  • Homosexual people who receive violent treatment in countries where they are not protected. Canada provides the same rights to LGBTQ2 individuals and couples.
  • A member of a religion who is being suppressed by the government.
  • A member of an ethnic group who is persecuted by the nation.
  • A teacher in a country where intellectuals are denounced as traitors of the people.
  • A person who openly condemns a renegade group in a country where the government cannot protect its citizens;
  • A person who is victimized because he is presumed of opposing the government, even though he is not politically active.
  • The child of an imprisoned political leader who is viewed as a threat by the present government.
  • The witness of a genocide committed by the military that the government support