CAT/C/61/D/659/2015 twenty verbal complaints with the police regarding those incidents. However, nothing was ever done. For about eight months, the complainant’s family members were also followed by men on motorbikes. The family became frightened and the children stopped going to school. 2.8 In June 2012, the complainant resigned from his job with United Nations Department of Safety and Security because he considered that it put his life and that of his family in danger. 2.9 In July 2012, the complainant’s son, L.S.L., was out on his motorbike, when he was approached by a man wearing a black helmet with an opaque visor, who asked him where his father was and whether he had left the country. On 24 August 2012, the complainant was walking with one of his daughters, L.V.L., when a man on a motorbike attempted to grab his daughter’s arm. When she started screaming, the man drove away. 2.10 On 28 August 2012, the complainant found the headlights of his car smashed. A bystander told him that four men, wearing black helmets with opaque visors, had come by on two motorbikes, smashed the headlights and driven away. On 30 August 2012, the complainant found the mirrors of his car broken. He adds that cars began parking near his house for long periods, especially at night, in a place that gave good visibility of the house. Once the lights in the house went on, the cars would immediately drive away. 2.11 On 9 September 2012, the complainant’s family left their home and stayed in Colombo before taking a flight to the United States on 12 September 2012. On 22 September 2012, the complainant and his family travelled by bus from Buffalo, New York, to Plattsburgh, New York, and thereafter by taxi to the Canadian border in the vicinity of Lacolle, Quebec. On 23 September 2012, they crossed illegally into Canada by an unguarded road but were detained shortly thereafter by immigration authorities, at which time they filed claims for refugee protection. 2.12 On 16 April 2014, the complainant and his family had a single joint hearing in Montreal. On 13 May 2014, the Immigration and Refugee Board rejected their claims on the basis of lack of credibility and determined that the claimants were not “Convention refugees”4 and “persons in need of protection”.5 They were notified of the decision on 20 May 2014. 2.13 On 11 June 2014, the complainant and his family applied to the Federal Court of Canada for leave and judicial review of the Immigration and Refugee Board’s decision. On 17 September 2014, the Federal Court denied the application. 2.14 On 20 January 2015, the complainant and his family 6 applied to Canada Border Services Agency for an administrative stay of the removal orders, pursuant to section 50 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act. On 28 January 2015, an Inland Enforcement Officer of the Agency communicated the negative decision to the legal representative of the complainant and his family, explaining that he was not satisfied that the family’s circumstances warranted a deferral of removal. 2.15 The complainant and his family had to wait 12 months as of the date of the rejection of their asylum application before being able to file an application for a pre-removal risk assessment or for permanent residence on humanitarian and compassionate grounds. 7 However, their removal to Sri Lanka was scheduled to take place prior to the expiry of the 12-month bar. 4 5 6 7 See 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees. Reference is made to section 97 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act and section 7 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The application was submitted on behalf of the complainant, his wife and their three daughters. Section 112 (2) (b.1) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act provides that, in general, a person may not apply for protection through the pre-removal risk assessment process if, “less than 12 months have passed since their claim for refugee protection was rejected … or determined to be withdrawn or abandoned by the Refugee Protection Division or the Refugee Appeal Division”. The same 12-month bar applies to application for permanent residence on humanitarian and compassionate grounds. 3