2.7 On 18 February 1992, LTTE attempted to force the author to join the
movement. When he refused, they ordered him to report to their office the
next day. Should he fail to report, he was told that he would be considered
an enemy of the Tamil people. The author understood this statement as a
threat to kill him and fled for Colombo that evening.
2.8 On 3 March 1992, the lodge in which he was staying in Colombo was
raided by the police and the author, along with other Tamil males, were
arrested. He was taken to Wellawatte police station and questioned about
his reasons for being in Colombo and his connections with LTTE. He was
released the following day on condition that he report weekly to the
police and not change his address in Colombo.
2.9 Henceforth, the author feared that he could at any time be arrested,
interrogated and tortured on suspicion that he was a member of LTTE. He
decided that his safety was no longer assured anywhere in Sri Lanka. He
left for Canada on 13 March 1992 and arrived the following May. (1) He
claimed Convention refugee status on the basis of persecution owing to
his race, his political opinions and his membership in a particular social
group.
2.10 The author's wife states that she was visited on several occasions in
Jaffna by LTTE members looking for her husband. An LTTE member
demanded that she pay 200,000 rupees as punishment for her husband's
disobedience, giving her one month in which to come up with the money.
As a result she fled with her daughter to Colombo. In Colombo she had to
register with the police and her identity card was confiscated. She was
accused of being an LTTE supporter. In August 1992, after a police
round-up of Tamils, she decided that there was no safe place for herself
and her daughter in Sri Lanka and she left for Canada in September 1992.
Upon her arrival she claimed refugee status for herself and her daughter.
2.11 The Immigration and Refugee Board, after a hearing on 4 March
1993, found that the authors could not be accorded refugee status. First,
the extortion activities of LTTE did not constitute persecution but rather
harassment not causing undue hardship. Secondly, the authors had in
Colombo an internal flight alternative; the Board found that there was no
serious possibility of the author being persecuted in Colombo and
therefore, it was not unreasonable that he could find refuge in that city.
2.12 By decision, dated 7 January 1994, the Federal Court Trial Division
dismissed the family's application for leave to apply for judicial review in
which they alleged errors of fact and of law in the Refugee Board's
decision.