by Sukhram Ramkissoon

A 50-year-old woman from Trinidad who I will refer to as the “victim” claimed that she was threatened, and a victim of domestic and sexual violence from her ex-husband and her ex-partner, was recently granted Convention Refugee Status in Canada.

She arrived in Canada in mid-2022 and subsequently claimed refugee protection whilst still in visitor’s status. Her claim recently came up for hearing before the Refugee Protection Division (RPD); she was represented by my son, Ronald Ramkissoon.

Before the hearing, the victim filed evidence establishing her well-founded fear of persecution and risk to her life. In her package, she included photographs of her injuries from her ex-husband’s abuse, copies of threatening messages, photos of her ex-partner in his police uniform while in a police vehicle, his police badge, messages sent to her from her
ex-partner, and several other documents that were consistent with her allegations and the timeline of events.

The presiding RPD member found no reason to doubt the genuine nature of the victim’s documents and gave full weight to corroborating and establishing the victim’s credible testimony. The RPD member also found that the evidence credibly established that her ex-husband abused her physically from 2004 – 2020 while in a relationship and, after it ended, he threatened to kill her.

The victim testified that she was psychologically, verbally, and physically abused by her ex-partner from 2021 to 2022. That her ex-partner is a police officer and that both her ex-husband and ex-partner have continued looking for her and threatening her friends and family if she returns to Trinidad. The victim’s ex-partner stopped her friend at a roadblock to
question her, he also appeared at the victim’s parents’ home threatening to implicate her family members in false crimes and arrest them.

The victim’s ex-husband, although divorced, did not believe in the legitimacy of the divorce and communicated with family members and friends that the victim needed to return to their relationship as he could not re-marry due to his religion.

The victim also testified that her ex-partner has connections to other police officers so she could be watched in all areas, by making calls to these officers and have her stopped at roadblocks and/or who could otherwise monitor her comings and goings.

The RPD member found that according to the objective evidence in the National Documentation Package (NDP) for Trinidad and Tobago “rape and domestic violence were serious and pervasive problems.” In 2022 “rates of domestic violence increased, with a 30 percent increase in women and girls who were verbally assaulted beaten by men they knew, with most cases being a current or former intimate partner.”

The RPD member also referred to the US Department of State report which states, the government’s initiatives to implement several pieces of legislation concerning domestic abuse. It also identified challenges in implementation such as underreporting, the stigma surrounding rape, the difficulty in acquiring forensic evidence, and the traumatization of victims.

Concerning the issue of “State Protection,” the victim testified that she attempted to get protection by going to multiple police stations, making several telephone calls, some of which were made while she was being abused, and speaking directly to friends within the police service for protection. She testified she did not receive any form of protection.

The RPD member found the victim rebutted the claim of state protection, as her testimony and the objective evidence demonstrate that the state will not provide her with adequate protection. The RPD member also found that the victim’s ex-husband and ex-partner have the motivation and means to find the victim throughout Trinidad and Tobago, and therefore, it is not safe for her to return and live anywhere in T&T. The member also found the victim to be a Convention Refugee and
accepted her claim; she can now apply for permanent residence as a protected person.

Sukhram Ramkissoon is a member of CICC and specializes in Immigration Matters at No. 3089 Bathurst Street, Suite 219A, Toronto, Ontario. Phone 416 789 5756.