Facebook posts sink would-be refugee’s bid

QUEST FOR ‘LIKES’

He reported the threat to the Attorney General’s office, which referred him to local police for protection, he said. A few weeks later, on Oct. 11, 2015, he was assaulted on his way to work.

The beating put him in hospital for 12 days he told Canada’s Immigration and Refugee Board. He feared for his life and the safety of his family, he said.

They lived in virtual hiding, he said — he started working from home and he had a private driver take his wife to work. Their son stayed in school, though, and went on the public school bus.

Living that way was unbearable, Diaz said. They fled to the United States and then travelled to Canada where they claimed refugee status on Dec. 12, 2015.

But Diaz’s social media profile suggested otherwise, the IRB ruled.

An examination of his public Facebook profile by the IRB showed he continued to publicly post photos and information about him and his family even after the threat. He posted about a social event the day before the assault and another on Oct. 12 — the day after the assault.

If he and his family were really living in fear, the IRB questioned, why would he post a photo of himself getting on an airplane to Arauca, 550 kilometres northeast of Bogotá, for a three-day visit to celebrate his mother’s birthday, leaving his wife and son at home.

When asked if he made arrangements to keep his wife safe, he said he hadn’t told her of the danger, which the IRB did not find credible.

His refugee claim was refused and Diaz appealed the decision to the Federal Court of Canada, which rejected his plea this week.

Justice Cecily Strickland found it reasonable for the IRB to compare his Facebook posts to the behaviour expected of a man cowering in fear.

“When asked for an explanation (Diaz) answered that when he posted photos on Facebook the more ‘likes’ he received the more famous he felt,” Strickland said in her ruling.

“Mr. Diaz’s conduct on Facebook, his attendance at the birthday celebration and the decision to send (his son) to school at a time when the family claimed to be in fear of their lives, were factors highly relevant to the question of their credibility and subjective fear of persecution,” said Strickland.

Phil Trotter, a Torontobased lawyer for Diaz and his family, said he was disappointed in the ruling.

He said Diaz’s explanation that he thought only friends and family could view his Facebook posts was understandable and plausible. The IRB should have focused on the threat and assault rather than social media.

Trotter said the IRB was “disconnected” from the circumstances his clients faced in Colombia and that Diaz’s only mistake was “not hiding enough to the liking of the” IRB. Dixon Javier Campo Diaz fled Colombia with his family under threat of the armed rebel group known as FARC, pictured, he told authorities when they arrived in Canada.