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Site Map THE ISRAELI ART STUDENTS AND MOVERS STORY -- Part 3 |
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Minutes of a hearing
The
Minister of Citizenship and Immigration
Le ministre de la
Citoyenneté et de l’Immigration
and / et
EINAV SOFER
AMIT YEHUDAI
September 17th, 2003,
Ottawa
BY
MEMBER:
-
So, I'll state that my name is Pierre Turmel. I am a member of the
Immigration Division. Today is September the 17th, 2003, and I've been
asked to preside an admissibility hearing concerning Einav Sofer.
BY
MEMBER (to persons concerned)
-
I'm sorry maybe for the pronunciation of your name.
A.
You pronounce it good.
-
And Amit Yehudai.
Q.
That is you?
A.
Yeah.
Q.
Okay. First, I'd like to know if you fully understand English?
A.
Yes.
Q. Or
if you'd like to have the assistance of a Hebrew interpreter?
A. We
understand everything.
-
You understand everything.
Q.
What about you, Mr. Yehudai?
A. I
understand.
-
Okay.
Q.
Now, do you consent to the holding of this hearing in the presence of one
another? Would you like to have your hearing separately, or if you are in
agreement to have your hearing at the same time than Mr. Yehudai?
A. We
agree.
Q. It
is okay?
A.
(Mr. Cole) Yeah.
-
Okay, then.
The person to my right is the Minister's counsel, Madame Sybill Powell.
Q.
Now, you have been told that a hearing was to take place today. Am I
correct?
A.
(Ms. Sofer) Yes.
Q.
You've received the documents to that effect?
A.
Yes.
A.
Yes.
-
On that Notice to Appear for the hearing there is a mention to the effect
that you may be represented by a lawyer.
A.
(Ms. Sofer) No, we don’t want to be represented by a lawyer.
-
You talk for yourself.
A. I
don't want to be represented.
Q.
You don't want to have a lawyer?
A.
I'm sorry.
A.
(inaudible)
-
You don't want a lawyer too. Okay, if you change your mind, you just let
me know, okay, and I will act accordingly, okay.
There's another person in this room who is Mr. Yehudai's girlfriend. She
is here as an observer. I will only state that observers cannot intervene
in any way during the course of the hearing. Okay.
Now, I have received documents. You have copies of the same. I will file
these documents into the record of the hearing. The referral under
subsection 44(2) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act,
dated the 15th of September 2003, at Ottawa, will form Exhibit C-1 into
your respective file.
EXHIBIT C-1 - SUBSECTION 44(2)
REFERRAL - SEPT. 15TH, 2003
And the other document, which is the report made under subsection 44(1),
dated the 12th of September 2003, at Ottawa, will form Exhibit C-2.
EXHIBIT C-2 - SUBSECTION 44(1)
REPORT - SEPT. 12TH, 2003
Q.
Now, Ms. Sofer, you've read that report?
A.
Yes.
Q. Do
you fully understand its contents?
A.
Yes.
Q.
And what about you, Mr. Yehudai, have you read it in full?
A.
(no verbal reply)
-
You're nodding your head in an affirmative way.
A.
Yes.
-
But you have to speak up. Everything is being recorded.
A.
Okay.
-
Okay.
Q.
And do you fully understand the content of the report?
A.
Yes, sir.
-
Yes.
Now, I’ll tell you what I’m here for, okay. I first have to determine if
you have a right to enter and/or remain into Canada. This right is
restricted to Canadian citizens and permanent residents of Canada. If you
are not such a person, I will then have to look at the report made against
you in order to determine if you have contravened any of the dispositions
of the Immigration Act, and more precisely, the ones appearing on
the report.
If I find you have not, I'll say it and the inquiry will end there.
However, if I find that you have contravened the dispositions of the
Immigration Act, I'll have no other choice but to make an Exclusion
Order in your cases. This will mean that you will have to leave the
country, and you will be prohibited from coming back to this country for a
certain period of time. I'll tell you at the end of the hearing depending
on the breaches to the Immigration Act how long you'll be
prohibited from coming back.
Q.
Okay, understood?
A.
(Mr. Yehudai) Yes, sir.
Q.
Following my explanations, are you still ready to proceed now...
A.
Yes.
A.
Yes.
Q.
...without a lawyer?
A.
Yes.
A.
Yes.
-
Yes, okay.
BY
MEMBER (to Minister's counsel)
Q.
Madame Powell, do you wish to call these persons as witness?
A.
Yes.
-
Okay.
BY
MEMBER (to person concerned)
Q.
Ms. Sofer, would you please stand up and raise your right hand. Do you
solemnly affirm that the evidence you are about to give shall be the
truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
A.
Yes, your honour.
-
Thank you.
A.
Can I sit?
-
Yes.
Q. Do
you solemnly affirm that the evidence you will give at this hearing will
be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
A.
Yes, sir.
-
Thank you.
BY
MEMBER (to Minister's counsel)
-
Your witness.
Q.
Who do you want to start with?
A.
Ms. Sofer.
-
Ms. Sofer.
BY
MINISTER'S COUNSEL (to
person concerned)
-
Please state your full name for the record.
A.
Einav Sofer. It's. E.I.N.A.V. the first name, and the last name is
S.O.F.E.R.
Q.
And do you have any other names?
A.
No.
Q.
What is your date of birth?
A.
The 26th of December 1976.
Q.
And where were you born?
A. In
Israel, Vesai (phonetic), the name of the town.
Q.
Okay, and what is your citizenship?
A.
Israeli.
Q.
Are you Canadian citizen?
A.
No.
Q.
Are you permanent resident of Canada?
A. Am
I?
Q. Do
you have any permanent residency in Canada?
A.
No.
Q.
When did you enter Canada?
A.
The 6th of August.
Q.
Where?
A.
Toronto.
Q.
What was your purpose for coming to Canada?
A.
Travel in the beginning, then to go to work.
Q.
What did you tell the Port of Entry you were going to do in Canada?
A.
That I came to visit.
Q.
Just to visit?
A.
Yes.
-
Okay.
BY
MEMBER (to person concerned)
Q.
You did not reveal you were coming here to...
A.
No.
Q.
...engage in employment?
A.
No.
Q.
Why not?
A.
Because in the beginning when I came I didn’t thought that I’m going to
work. I thought (inaudible) in Canada because I'm student and I came only
for two months, and then I met one guy who told me about this law, and I
went to work and I didn’t thought from the beginning to come to work.
Because I was working as my money. And then he told me about this, and I
thought why not. I didn’t check this.
Q.
Did not you know before coming here that you...
A.
Coming to work, no.
Q.
That there was, this activity going on in Canada...
A.
No, I heard about.
-
There is advertising being...
A. In
Israel.
-
...being made in Israel, yes.
A. I
heard from people that came here. They told me. Now I don't need to
change everything.
Q.
You had not seen that ad before?
A.
Because didn't thought about coming to work because I was working in
(inaudible) Service in Israel while studying. And I thought to myself,
okay, this is too much, I'm going to come on vacation. I will come for
two months, and then my boyfriend also will come to join me. And that's
it. And then I heard about this here. I met one Israeli guy and he told
me about this thing that they doing and I thought to myself why not. And
it was a big mistake, excuse me.
Q.
And you intended on departing Canada at which date?
A.
With my boyfriend (inaudible).
Q.
When were you originally scheduled to depart Canada?
A.
We're supposed to be on 20 October, on the 20 of October because I'm
starting my school on 26th.
-
Okay.
A.
So, my (inaudible). So until the end of summer vacation.
-
Okay.
BY
MINISTER'S COUNSEL (to
person concerned)
Q.
Who is, there's a note left Shara.
A.
Shahaman (phonetic), this is the Israeli guy that I met.
Q.
Okay, when did you meet him?
A. In
a bar. He told me about this thing.
Q.
Why did you come to Ottawa?
A.
Because I started in Montreal and... No, I started in Toronto, and then I
went to Montreal, and then to Ottawa, and I thought to go after that maybe
to Vancouver and to keep on travelling. And also to go after that to
North. I can tell you, to see the Northern Lights in Alberta, in
Saskatchewan. Just travelling in the big city in the beginning.
Q.
Did you know anybody in Ottawa?
A.
No, nobody. I didn't know anybody when I came to Canada actually. I know
this family here, a family.
Q.
Who’s Dan?
A.
Dan?
-
There’s note that you spent two weeks in Montreal at a friend’s house,
Dan.
A.
Ah, this is a friend from Israel that I spent with there. I was staying
with Isabel house, in Isabel house, and also with my friend Dan. But he's
a guy I met also on the street. I didn’t know him from Israel. Like, you
know, Israeli people we always know one each other. If you go on the
street and you just start to speak with people and that's it.
-
All right.
Q.
Now, when did you start to work in Ottawa?
A. I
don't remember the correct date.
-
Approximately.
A.
Around two weeks ago, something like that.
Q.
And what did you do?
A.
Like it's written.
BY
MEMBER (to person concerned)
Q.
I’m sorry?
A.
Like it's written, selling (inaudible).
-
Okay.
BY
MINISTER'S COUNSEL (to
person concerned)
Q.
And how many did you sell?
A. I
don't know exactly how much. But I can tell you how much I believe around,
like around eight-hundred (800), six-hundred (600).
Q.
Eight-hundred (800) dollars in total or per week?
A.
No, per week.
Q.
Did you have an employment authorization?
A.
No.
Q.
Did you apply for an employment authorization?
A.
No.
BY
MEMBER (to person concerned)
Q. So
you were making between six-hundred (600) and eight-hundred (800) dollars
a week?
A.
Yeah.
Q.
You were doing good?
A.
(inaudible).
-
You were doing good.
A.
Yes.
-
You're a good saleswoman.
A.
Actually I didn't do it for the selling, but it was important.
Q.
I'm sorry?
A. I
didn't do it for the selling because I thought about something else. I
didn’t do it for the money actually.
-
No, no, yeah, yeah.
Q.
But I mean it was easy for you to sell those paintings?
A.
Yes, because I can explain about art, and I know a lot about art because
I’m offering art in Israel my country. So (inaudible), and like I said in
the beginning my main idea wasn’t to sell them. My main idea was to come
to people and talk to them about the thing that I know, to give them maybe
a small knowledge about art, what I’m doing. And (inaudible) because this.
BY
MINISTER'S COUNSEL (to
person concerned)
Q.
Were these your paintings?
A.
No, no. I’m doing my own painting in Israel. I’m doing my own art.
BY
MINISTER'S COUNSEL (to
member)
-
Those are all the questions I have for her.
A.
Okay.
BY
MINISTER'S COUNSEL (to
person concerned)
-
Now, sir, could you please state your name for the record.
A. My
name is Amit Yehudai, Y.E.H.U.D.A.I.
Q.
Okay. You have any other names?
A.
No.
Q. So
what is your date of birth?
A.
Sixth of August 78.
Q.
Sixth of August?
A.
Seventy-eight.
-
Okay.
Q. So
where were you born?
A. In
(inaudible).
Q.
What is your citizenship?
A.
Israeli.
Q.
Are you a Canadian citizen?
A.
No.
Q.
Are you permanent resident of Canada?
A.
No.
Q.
When did you enter Canada?
A.
Fifth of August.
Q.
Where?
A.
Toronto.
Q.
And what did you tell the Port of Entry your purpose of coming to Canada
was?
A.
For visiting.
Q.
And what was your purpose of coming to Canada?
A. My
purpose was to see (inaudible)
Q.
Had you met before?
A.
Yes.
BY
MEMBER (to person concerned)
Q.
Where?
A. In
Toronto.
Q.
You've been here before?
A.
(no verbal reply)
Q.
When was that?
A.
Probably two years ago.
Q.
Two years ago?
A.
(no verbal reply)
Q.
Have you kept in touch over the past two years?
A.
(no verbal reply)
BY
PERSON CONCERNED-MS. SOFER
(to member)
-
Sir, (...inaudible...)
A.
Yeah.
-
I'm sorry.
BY
MEMBER (to person concerned)
Q. Do
you know each other?
A.
(Ms. Sofer) (inaudible).
Q.
You’ve travelled together?
A.
No.
Q.
You arrive on the same day?
A.
Yes. We met in the airport, sir.
-
Okay.
A.
And then (inaudible).
-
Okay.
BY
MINISTER'S COUNSEL (to person concerned-Mr.
Yehudai)
Q.
Who met you at the airport?
A.
Who met me, Roy.
BY
MEMBER (to person concerned)
Q.
I'm sorry?
BY
MINISTER'S COUNSEL (to
person concerned)
Q.
Roy?
BY
MEMBER (to person concerned)
Q.
You met Roy Maniato?
A.
Yes.
Q. At
the airport. You knew him?
A. I
knew him from Israel but in another situation.
Q.
Why was he at the airport to meet you on arrival?
A.
No, he was just picking me up and then I went to Montreal.
BY
MINISTER'S COUNSEL (to
person concerned)
Q.
Did he take you to Montreal?
A.
What?
Q.
Did he take you to Montreal?
A.
No, I rented a car.
Q.
How long did you stay in Montreal?
A.
Like one month, something like that.
BY
MEMBER (to person concerned-Ms. Sofer)
Q.
Have you also got picked up at the airport by Roy Maniato?
A.
No. I went, I took a taxi because I didn't know where. I took a taxi to
hotel, and then Amit came to the hotel, and that I arrived, (inaudible).
And then it was after I came with him to Montreal.
Q.
With Roy?
A.
No, with Amit. Because I didn't know (inaudible).
BY
MINISTER'S COUNSEL (to
person concerned-Mr. Yehudai)
Q. So
Roy picked you up at the airport and you went back to his house?
A.
No, to hotel.
Q. To
his hotel?
A.
Not this hotel. I look (...inaudible...) hotel next to the airport.
A.
(Ms. Sofer) I can, if (inaudible) to talk, or you can check also on the
ticket. I can and I went, nobody came to pick me. I took a cab to one
place that my friend that she was travelling, she told me to go in
Toronto. That it's a very good place and a cheap one. And then Amit also
came to this place. And then the day after we went together to Montreal.
Q. So
you just met in the airport, or you met at the hotel?
BY
MEMBER (to person concerned-Ms. Sofer)
Q. At
the hotel, not at the airport?
A.
Yes, at the airport.
BY
MINISTER'S COUNSEL (to
person concerned-Ms. Sofer)
Q. So
you just went to Montreal then?
A.
Yeah, because, you know, I didn’t know anybody, so he said that he was
going to Montreal, so I went.
BY
MINISTER'S COUNSEL (to
person concerned-Mr. Yehudai)
Q.
All right, so you went to Montreal and visited your girlfriend?
A.
Yes, my girlfriend.
Q.
And that was your reason for coming to Canada?
A.
Yes.
Q.
What was your… why did Roy pick you up? Did you contact him before you
were coming to Canada?
A. It
was like, like it you said about the advertisement, something there in
advertisement. So it was like kind of, like an option, like an
(inaudible).
Q.
Okay, so you had answered the ad in Israel?
A.
What?
Q.
You called the ad in Israel?
A.
Yes, yes. I just want, you know, it was like my summer vacation, I like
to travelling, so I called them to say an option. Maybe it could, you
know. This could be just an option.
Q.
And when did you find out Roy was involved?
A. I
didn't know that Roy. They told me like okay, if you want, you can come,
some guy named Roy will wait for you. That's it.
BY
MEMBER (to person concerned)
Q.
The person you talked to told you...
A.
No...
Q.
...told you could come and a person by the name of Roy ...
A.
Will pick me up, exactly.
Q.
...will pick you up...
A.
Exactly.
Q.
...at the airport?
A.
Exactly, because this kind of service they offer.
-
Yeah.
A.
Like small (inaudible) for you like when you come.
-
Uh-hum.
A.
But then the first and the main reason I came (...inaudible...) and I told
him I go to Montreal and I need to think about it like this, to see if I
want to go.
BY
MINISTER'S COUNSEL (to
person concerned)
Q.
But he was picking you up, but you knew that a person that you had
contacted about work was picking you up at the airport?
A. He
pick me up.
-
Okay.
Q. So
at the Port of Entry did you mention that you were going to be meeting
with a future employer?
A. He
wasn’t my employer. I met him also in Israel. He was my friend. I didn’t
know. They told me Roy, but I knew him from Israel two years ago. When I
talked with him...
Q.
When you knew that they told you that someone from their work would pick
you up at the airport and meet you, is that correct?
A.
Yes.
Q.
Okay, and his name was Roy?
A.
Yes.
-
You didn't know you knew him before. This is somebody named Roy that
picked you up at the airport and he was involved in selling paintings,
okay.
A.
This is true.
Q. So
when you came to the airport and the Port of Entry person said why are you
here, you said?
A.
For visiting.
-
Okay.
A.
But I want to explain something. When he picked me up I wasn’t like in a
status of a (inaudible). I told him also in the beginning that I come for
Canada for my reason, and if it’s like, if I can combine go with him then
it’s okay. But my reason coming was to see the (inaudible). So when he
picked me up, it wasn’t like he picked up to work. He picked me up like
this service, like this company like it’s doing like a favour for you.
They can (inaudible) you want to do. They treat you nice. So, you know,
it’s like kind of (inaudible).
Q.
How much did you make selling paintings?
A.
Like six-hundred (600), seven-hundred (700).
BY
MEMBER (to person concerned)
Q.
When did you start selling paintings?
A.
What?
Q.
When did you start selling paintings?
A. I
sell frames not paintings.
Q.
I’m sorry?
A. I
sell frames not paintings.
Q.
When did you start selling frames?
A.
After like (...inaudible...)
Q.
How long after you had arrived?
A.
Like three weeks and a half, something like that.
Q.
And in which city have you sold those frames?
A. In
Ottawa.
Q.
Here only, not in Montreal?
A.
Not in Montreal.
BY
MINISTER'S COUNSEL (to
person concerned)
Q.
When did you meet up with Roy again?
A.
After I had no contact with him, and I came Toronto.
Q.
Did you have an employment authorization?
A.
(inaudible).
Q.
Did you ever apply for employment authorization?
A.
(inaudible).
Q.
Pardon?
A.
No.
BY
MINISTER'S COUNSEL (to
member)
-
I have no further questions.
A.
Thank you.
BY
MEMBER (to person concerned)
Q.
Mr. Yehudai, ...
A.
Yes.
Q.
...where is your girlfriend living?
A. My
girlfriend?
-
Yes.
A. In
Montreal.
Q.
Where? What's her address?
A.
It's Rue Cuvillier.
Q.
I'm sorry?
A.
Rue Cuvillier.
-
Would you spell that out for me.
A. I
don’t know the spelling in French. It’s Rue Avenue East Cauvillier, it's
C.A.U.V.I.L.L.E.R. Rue Cauviller it’s near Sherbrooke.
-
Okay, she is in the back of the room, I’ll ask her.
BY
OBSERVER (to member)
-
La rue Cuvillier.
A.
Cuvillier.
BY
MEMBER (to person concerned)
Q.
Okay, is she living alone there or with her parents or?
A.
No, she live alone.
-
Alone.
Q. Is
she employed, would you know?
A.
Yes.
Q.
What does she do for a living?
A.
She work in a bookstore, in a bookstore.
Q. In
a bookstore?
A.
Yes.
Q. Is
full-time employer?
A. I
don’t know what is the status, but I think so.
Q.
Was she working five days a week?
A.
Five days, yes, four or five days.
-
Four, five days a week, okay.
Q.
And was she working during the time you were at her place?
A.
Yes.
Q.
She was?
A.
...
Q.
She didn’t take any holidays?
A.
She had sometimes like three days off so we could be together. But
otherwise when she’s working she work like from ten to six or nine to ten.
So still we have the day.
-
Uh-hum.
A.
And sometimes I go to meet her at her work (inaudible).
Q.
I'm sorry?
A.
Sometimes I go to meet her at her work and (inaudible). So then
(inaudible).
-
Yeah, okay.
Q.
And when you came to Ottawa in order to engage in employment did she come
to Ottawa with you?
A. If
she come with me?
-
Yeah.
A.
No, I go on the weekends to Montreal.
Q. In
a weekend, during the weekend?
A.
Yes.
-
Yeah, okay.
BY
MEMBER (to Minister's counsel)
-
Madame Powell, I’d like to hear you with regards to the misrepresentation
allegation concerning both of them.
A. Of
what Ms. Sofer has told us…
Q.
I’m sorry?
A.
From what Ms. Sofer...
-
Yes.
A.
...has told us today...
-
Yes.
A.
...she basically says that she came to Canada and within a few short hours
met up with someone. They both went to Montreal the next day. A few weeks
later they end up in Ottawa not knowing that they would end up in Ottawa,
I don’t believe, together. She says that she knew nothing about this,
about this painting before she came to Canada. She met somebody on the
street who told her about it. And yet she would have been driving in a car
the day after she arrived with someone that was very knowledgeable about
it all the way to Montreal.
I
find that what she said today that she came to travel, and that she just
basically meet people on the street and move in with them. Difficult to
believe in 2004, and I don't believe that her only purpose to come to
Canada was to solely travel and would like to see her described as
misrepresentation, as well as (inaudible).
In terms of...
-
Hold on a second. I'll give her immediately an opportunity to respond.
BY
MEMBER (to person concerned)
Q.
You’ve heard what Madame Powell said?
A.
What can I do now? I did something wrong. I know that I did something
wrong. In the end the most important thing that I did something wrong. The
most important thing if I would say that I come to visit, nobody would
believe me because everybody is looking on the last thing, the last thing
was very terrible, is very wrong. And I can understand why she find it
hard to believe me. I can understand her and I respect what she’s saying
because it sound to her very strange and she don’t know how the Israeli
people like us how we talk to one each other. When we see one people in
the street and just start talking one to each other. So, but the main
important thing is that I did something wrong and I know it.
-
Okay.
BY
MEMBER (to Minister's counsel)
-
As concerns Mr. Yehudai.
A.
Mr. Yehudai had contacted this company before he left Israel. He had
agreed to have someone from the company pick him up at the airport.
Someone who he says that he later found out he already knew and someone
that was very involved in the painting business. I find it difficult to
believe that he didn’t have at least some plan to take part in working
when he came. And I believe that although it may not have been his main
reason, certainly it was part of... part of what he planned to do here,
and I believe that he should be described for misrepresentation
(inaudible).
BY
MEMBER (to person concerned)
-
Yes.
A.
Regarding what she say, quite agree with, you know, just want to say it
again that like she said the main reason come was not for work. I didn’t
talk before about the work. It was only like an option, possibility.
Because I’m a student. And then the thing that they pick me up, you know,
it's like to save the twenty-five bucks for the taxi, which for me it’s
not worth it. And that’s it till I come to Montreal. I'm not saying after
I work, and (inaudible). That’s it.
-
Ms. Sofer and Mr. Yehudai, you have both testified during the course of
the admissibility hearing. Your testimony, firstly, permits me to conclude
that you have no right to enter and/or remain into Canada given that you
are not Canadian citizens nor permanent residents of Canada. You both are
citizens of Israel by birth in that country.
You have both testified having arrived in Canada on the 5th of August
2003, at Toronto. And you have both subsequently engaged in employment
without having first obtained the written authorization from the
Immigration Department. You were selling paintings, and frames for you,
Mr. Yehudai, and received a commission as a remuneration. You earned just
between six to eight-hundred dollars per week.
So obviously there's an allegation that has been established in that you
contravened the dispositions of paragraph 41(a) of the Immigration and
Refugee Protection Act in that on a balance of probabilities there are
reasons to believe you are a foreign national who is inadmissible for
failure to comply with a requirement of the Act. That was the
requirement of obtaining a written authorization before engaging in
employment.
Now, there was another allegation in both cases to the effect that you
would also be inadmissible into Canada by reason of having exercised,
whether directly or indirectly, a misrepresentation relating to a relevant
matter which induced or could have induced in error in the administration
of the Act.
Now, you have testified, Ms. Sofer, that you had no clue of this working
activity before reaching Canada. That you have learned about this once in
Canada, and then decided to engage in employment. But I'll come back on
your testimony at a later time during the course of this decision. I want
first to turn to Mr. Yehudai who said that prior to his coming to Canada
he had seen an ad in a newspaper and contacted a person. He was explained
what the work was all about and has agreed to meet a person at the airport
on the day of his arrival. So a representative of the company was there by
the name of Roy, but it happened that he was someone he already knew for
some years. He didn't know at first that Roy would have been the person he
knew for some years.
So, I do not know if I'm going to believe that part of his testimony. But
if I were to believe it, what I realize is that Mr. Yehudai contacted the
company, inquired about what was involved as a work, agreed to be met the
very day of his arrival in Canada. And notwithstanding the fact he is
trying to convince me that the only reason for his coming to Canada was to
pay a visit to his girlfriend. His girlfriend lives in Montreal and three
weeks after his arrival he moves to Ottawa and engage in employment for
that person called Roy who is acting as a supervisor, and his girlfriend
stays in Montreal where she is fully employed and had no holidays but is
returning every weekend to see her. So I would say that we might be
playing on words here, Mr. Yehudai, when you say that the main reason for
your coming to this country was to see your girlfriend.
Well, I may use the same tactic here. It might have been true that the
major reason for your coming was to see your girlfriend, but there was a
secondary and a complementary reason to your coming, which was to make
money during your stay by working in Canada. Otherwise you would not have
prior to departing Israel contacted the company in order to see what
involved the work you could perform while visiting Canada. So I believe in
all likelihood that you had the intention, even it is true to say you were
coming here first to see your girlfriend at the same time you had the
intention of engaging in employment which you have not revealed. So I find
the second allegation has been established.
Now, as concerns Ms. Sofer, there are very strange coincidences in that
she arrives here on the same day that Mr. Yehudai, though on a different
flight, and she happens to meet also Mr. Roy because she met Yehudai at
the hotel where she went. And quite curiously it is the same hotel where
Roy brought Yehudai when he picked him up at the airport. And you happen
to travel to Montreal together, and you happen to be now working both of
you for the same Roy.
So I think I can conclude on a balance of probabilities, I might be wrong,
but I’m looking at the odds, and when examining all these facts, I
conclude on a balance that your coming into Canada was not only to do
tourism, but while doing tourism, work at the same time to maybe make some
bit of money to help your tourist visit. So I find this allegation to have
been also established.
So I’m ordering in both of your cases exclusions from Canada, and you are
prohibited from coming back to this country for a period of two years. If
you want to come back to Canada within that two year period, you first
present yourself to a Canadian Embassy and ask for the written consent of
the Immigration Minister. So a Canadian visa officer will examine the
reasons why you want to come back here, and if he finds you have valid
reasons for coming back and you are acting out of good faith, then you'll
be issued the special consent.
A.
(Ms. Sofer) Just a question, sir.
-
Yes, you can.
A.
Maybe you can give me two years and Amit only one year because, sir, maybe
we don't know but it's the law, you know.
-
No, no, no, that is the law. That is two years for each of you. I cannot
give you one of his years.
A.
Why not, sir?
-
No, no, I can’t. That’s how it goes.
Today’s hearing is now terminated. |