RAD – CHINA – FALUN GONG – X (Re), 2021 CanLII 154556 (CA IRB)
The appellant is a citizen of China and claims to be persecuted by the Chinese authorities as a Falun Gong practitioner. The appellant alleges that he practiced Falun Gong for his health after an automotive accident and joined his cousin’s underground practice group. When an arrest of a classmate of the appellant’s uncle was made, he decided to leave China for a country where he could practice Falun Gong freely.
The Refugee Protection Division (RPD) determined there was insufficient evidence that he was a bona fide Falun Gong adherent and was unpersuaded by reasons provided by the appellant why he would join the group given the associated risks when he could have simply practiced in the privacy of his own home. The RPD also determined that the appellant was not a refugee sur place owing to his Falun Gong activities in Canada.
The Refugee Appeal Division (RAD) found that the RPD did err in its assessment that the appellant was not a bona fide Falun Gong adherent. It found that it was not unreasonable for him to join the group given the improved health benefits that it brought him. The RAD found that the appellant had established, on the balance of probabilities, that he was a genuine Falun Gong practitioner and found him to a convention refugee.