Mr. H and his family approached TWA in early 2018 and sought our firm’s help in refugee protection in Canada. They were a big family consisting of 8 family members from three generations, including the grandparents and their grandchildren, escaping from their home country X. 

Mr. H had been a prominent and influential entrepreneur operating a big pharmacy corporation back in his home country. He was targeted and extorted by a local gang group colluding with the local government. He was kidnapped, incarcerated and tortured by the gangsters. The family had sought the local authority’s help by reporting it to the police, who simply disregarded it as they were bribed and paid off by those gangs. Once temporarily freed from those mobs, the whole family managed to fly to Canada in late 2017. 

As soon as arriving in Canada, without any legal knowledge here, in the first place, they tried to make some temporary resident applications, such as applying for work permits but failed. Shortly thereafter, by virtue of the acquaintance’s referral, the family approached TWA and retained our service, ultimately. Having comprehensively reviewed the family’s circumstances, in particular pertaining to their ordeal back in their home country, our counsel promptly advised them of the wisdom and urgency to seek asylum/refugee protection in Canada.

Within a few months of preparation and due diligence, our counsel representing the whole family filed the refugee/asylum protection in Canada. During the tribunal hearing, our counsel acting on behalf of the whole family, presented a strong case before a panel of three judging members, citing Section 97 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, which says: A person in need of protection is a person in Canada whose removal to their country or countries of nationality, their country of former habitual residence, would subject them personally (a) to a danger, believed on substantial grounds to exist, of torture within the meaning of Article 1 of the Convention Against Torture; or (b) to a risk to their life or to a risk of cruel and unusual treatment or punishment if (i) the person is unable or, because of that risk, unwilling to avail themself of the protection of that country, (ii) the risk would be faced by the person in every part of that country and is not faced generally by other individuals in or from that country,(iii) the risk is not inherent or incidental to lawful sanctions unless imposed in disregard of accepted international standards, and(iv) the risk is not caused by the inability of that country to provide adequate health or medical care. However, the Minister’s counsel, during the adversarial hearing, raised some sharp questions and made arguments against the claims, particularly about the fact that they had applied for some work permits in the first place, and this asylum application appeared to be the alternative remedy for their residency pursuit in Canada, which construed the credibility issue. At the end of the day, the judging members adopted our counsel’s position and submission and dictated that Mr. H and his whole family of 8’s refugee claims were accepted pursuant to Section 97. This significant ruling has thus provided the remedy and protection for the whole big family in Canada in pursuit of their permanent residence.

Now, Mr. H and his family have been happily living in BC, Canada, with some of them being Canadian citizens already, while they sincerely appreciate our TWA’s professional and dedicated legal service in terms of the whole asylum proceeding and the subsequent settlement as permanent residents in Canada.