ABSTRACT
With the enactment of Canada’s Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, the Immigration and Refugee Board gained the authority to grant refugee protection to an individual who is “a person in need of protection” if their removal to their country of nationality would subject them personally to a risk to their life or to a risk of cruel and unusual treatment or punishment. However, someone who personally faces this risk of harm will not qualify for protection if the risk is one faced generally by others in or from their country of nationality. This ground is not restricted to situations of international or internal armed conflict. Canadian jurisprudence has held that refugee claimants must establish the risk on a balance of probabilities. The evidence must indicate a specific, individualized risk of harm with regard to the particular claimant and not merely generalized human rights violations in their country. In determining whether the “generalized risk” exception applies, the Board must consider the nature of the risk, the agent of harm, and country conditions. A generalized risk does not require everyone in the country to have the same risk of harm, but rather that it affects a significant sub-group of the population. However, even in countries where crime and violence are widespread, a refugee claimant who faces a risk that is particular to them, such as a personal vendetta, can fall outside the generalized risk exception. As noted in the 2019 addendum at the end of this chapter, since the writing of this chapter in 2011–12, the interpretation of the generalized risk exception has evolved and become more consistent. As a result, the exception is applicable in fewer circumstances than it was when the chapter was originally drafted.
