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The Toronto Star
NEWS, Friday, November 20, 1992, p. A2

[A member of Canada's Immigration and Refugee Board has resigned ...]

By Donovan Vincent TORONTO STAR

A member of Canada's Immigration and Refugee Board has resigned and is calling for an independent inquiry to examine racism and "interference" in the board.

Racism exists and thrives on the board, Dr. Sam Ifejika, a member of its backlog division since 1989, said yesterday.

Board members are constantly pressured to turn in negative decisions and reject claimants, he said.

"I have been asked to explain my positive decisions a number of times, but I have never been asked to explain my negative decisions."

Ifejika cleared out his Mississauga office, six weeks before his term in the $86,000-a-year job officially ends.

The decision will cost him $10,000 he would have been paid between now and the end of December.

Ifejika said he is tired of federal bureaucrats interfering with the board.

The direction the board as a whole is taking is "against the letter and spirit" of the United Nations convention on refugees, he complained.

And Ottawa's proposed new immigration law would foster this "inhumane policy" toward genuine refugees, he said.

None of the backlog division members being kept on after the division disbands in January are members of visible minorities, Ifejika said in an interview.

And those being kept on in Toronto made a higher percentage of decisions against refugees than he did, he said.

But Pierre Bourget, the board's acting executive director, said the allegations about the number of non-whites being kept on, and their approval ratings for refugees are "nonsense."

"The public has access to information on the percentage of positive and negative decisions by each member. How could we be in the position where we would play with that (information) for the purposes of re-appointment?"

Doing so would be "suicidal," he said.

The board has been active in hiring non-whites, Bourget said.

Nurjehan Mawani, 44, a lawyer who was born in Kenya, this year replaced Gordon Fairweather as board chairperson, he noted.

However, the accusations will be investigated by the board, he said.

Ifejika was appointed to the board in May, 1989, for two years and his term has been extended twice.

He outlined his concerns in a lengthy June 16 memo to the clerk of the Privy Council. It alleged that board members are "coerced" or given "incentives" to decide against claimants.

Ifejika said he wrote the memo after learning in May that he would be reviewed for re-appointment to the board when his term ended in December.

But Bourget said Ifejika was told in May that he would not be re-appointed.

The backlog section was created in 1989 - the same year the board was formed.

About 33 of the 48 people in the backlog section will be kept on to work for the board, Bourget said. He said he did not know how many are members of visible minorities.

Earlier this year, two board members lost their jobs after it was reported they snickered and passed mocking notes about an Iranian man who told a hearing that authorites tortured him by placing boiled eggs under his armpits.

Illustration(s):

Photo: Dr. Sam Ifejika

Subject(s) - The Toronto Star : Canada immigration government resignation Sam Ifejika
Edition: AM
Length: Medium, 409 words

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