Intro
A Qadiani-Ahmadi in Canada, Mr. Irfan Ahmad recently had his refugee status revoked by the Canadian Citizenship and Immigration Department. It seems that he was accepted for re-settlement in Canada in 2014 under the “Convention refugee abroad” program on the basis that he required protection from Pakistan on account of his Ahmadi faith.
However, via investigation, Mr. Irfan Ahmad travelled to Pakistan on his Pakistani passport six times between January 2016 and March 2022, for a total of 336 days. Based on these facts, a Canadian Immigration court ruled that Mr. Irfan Ahmad voluntarily “reavailed himself” and thus his refugee status was automatically revoked. In 2026, Mr. Irfan or his lawyer argued that this finding was unreasonable and that he had compelling reasons to return, namely, for marriage, for the birth of his child, and to attend to his parents’ illness and funeral.
The Refugee Protection Division (RPD) rejected all of the Applicant’s submissions, finding, among other things, there was inconsistency related to the Applicant’s identification of the agents of persecution. The RPD considered the Applicant’s testimony about precautionary measures in Pakistan such as travelling at night and remaining at home as much as possible, but found his activities, such as bringing his family to Pakistan and having a wedding with 80-90 guests, irreconcilable with his alleged subjective fear of persecution. The RPD accepted that the Applicant did not know he risked his status in Canada by travelling to Pakistan but found it to be only a relevant factor rather than a determinative one
In the end, the Judge ruled that the application for judicial review is granted. Thus, Mr. Irfan Ahmad seems to have been given another chance to prove that he wants to be a Canadian citizen. Jamie Sarkonak wrote a detailed article in the NP just in January about the judge here, Avvy Go, who has made similar decisions. On the face of them, they are clearly not rational decisions. I remember her conclusion, also deserving of an article in the NP, where Eritreans who had Swedish citizenship claimed asylum here, and this judge allowed them to stay because they said their older child would be prejudiced if not allowed to complete the school year here (instead of in Sweden, I guess). I don’t know what transpired afterwards. Why is this person still on the bench?

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