Fact Situation 2C REFUGEE Protection The client is a 31-year-old single woman born in Chile and she is a citizen of that country. She says she has a fear of being persecuted in Chile due to being visually impaired. The major issues identified by the panel at the hearing are the following: credibility, objective basis, and discrimination versus persecution. Evidence from your client You review the narrative in her PIF and it states as follows: "The following events are examples of the discrimination and persecution I faced daily in Chile because of my disability. I am blind and I have a guide dog, XXXX, for assistance. I was denied many services available to the public in Chile because of my visual impairment and because of my guide dog. The use of public transportation was always difficult. For example, I once fell while trying to get on the bus and the bus driver kept going and almost ran over me. When I got my guide dog, XXXX, I had to continually fight with the bus drivers to be allowed on the bus. I was denied entry into restaurants and malls because of my disability and my guide dog. The laws in Chile do not protect me from discrimination based on my disability. After I was fired from my job I went to a human rights organization to see what could be done. I was told that there are no laws in Chile to protect me. The discrimination I faced pervaded my every day life to the extent that I could not use public services and I could not maintain employment." In her narrative she lists the continuation of events of discrimination against her due to her being visually impaired. These events occurred from March 1986 to April 22, 2016. The major emphasis of her claim of discrimination amounting to persecution is in respect to what occurred to her from November 1999 to March 20, 2016. November 2015 While I was on the subway, the driver said through the loudspeaker, "All animals are not allowed to travel by subway", referring to my guide dog. XXXXXX, 2016 at 7:30 p.m. One of my work mates and I went to a restaurant called XXXXX to have some ice cream. We were pushed away and treated very badly by the manager XXXXXXX because animals were not allowed in the restaurant. Monday, XXXXXX, 2016 I called the media to complain about this situation at the restaurant. Two television stations, "XXXXXXXXX" and "XXXXXXXXXX" came to my work place to interview me. Monday, XXXXXX, 2016 I complained to the "Servicio Nacional del Consumidor" which is a consumer's complaints office about the situation at the restaurant. Two months later I received letters from the restaurant and the office saying that they had acted according to the law. Tuesday, XXXXXX, 2016 A news report about the situation at XXXXX Restaurant appeared on Megavision, Channel 9. Wednesday, XXXXXX, 2016 I was called to the Human Resources Chief's office at "XXXXXXXXXXX XXX" who are the official owners of "XXXXXXXX", the radio station I was working for. They ordered me to take home my guide dog due to some changes that were going to be done at the office. Of course, this measure was permanent. February, 2016 A week later I sent a letter to some of the principals at radio XXXXXXX explaining why I did not want my guide dog to leave the office. XXXXXX, 2016 I was called to the Human Resources department and was given a letter notifying me that I was being fired within 30 days for reasons to do with the employer's needs according to article 1, clause 1 of the Labor Code. XXXXXX, 2016 I went to the corporacion de Asisstencia Judicial, an official organization for Human rights in Chile, but I was told that the radio station had a legal right to fire me. XXXXXX, 2016 XXXXXXX, a journalist from the newspaper "XXXXXXX" visited me at work because she was notified at the Corporacion de Asistencia Judicial that I had been fired. An article about me appeared in the Saturday, XXXXXX, 2016 edition of the paper. XXXXXX, 2016 to XXXXXX, 2016 I was intimidated at work many times by being called to the office of the XXXX of the Human Resources Department, XXXXXX. I was continually questioned about what I was doing and watched by people from the radio station. I wasn't allowed to receive any visitors at work because they were afraid of me appearing in the media again. Your client alleges that she became so frustrated and depressed over the continuation of instances of discrimination against her for being visually impaired that she finally decided to move to Canada from Chile on XXXXX, 2000, arriving at Vancouver, British Columbia, on August 16, 2016. She originally resided with a cousin, XXXXX, in Victoria, British Columbia. She made her refugee claim on September 13, 2000. She states she did extensive research prior to leaving Chile at the Canadian Embassy in Santiago, Chile, and also on the Internet. She states she fully intended upon arriving in Canada to make a refugee claim, even though her visitor's permit stated she was here merely on a visit. Issues Credibility She appears very credible and trustworthy. She is articulate and is obviously well-educated, having a university degree and being a qualified XXXX of English as a second language. She describes being terminated from her disability pension when she received employment and then not being granted the right to her disability pension when she had been terminated from her employment with the radio station. She states she made official inquiries from the Disability Department of a government ministry in Santiago. She was told that she was not eligible to be able to receive the disability pension again due to regulations, but she was not allowed to see what these regulations were and was told that this information was only given to social workers or other government staff. She said she did not make attempts to find out more details of the so-called regulation from a supervisor or a manager of this government department Background Source Country Intelligence There are specific articles that deal with discrimination against the visually impaired in Chile, as well as recent legislation that has been passed to promote integration of the disabled into society. The U.S. Department of State Country Report on Human Rights Practices of Chile for 2012, includes on page 9 of 12 one paragraph titled, "People With Disabilities": A 1994 law promotes the integration of the disabled into society. The government's national fund for the handicapped has a small budget to encourage such integration. The 2012 census found that 288,000 citizens said that they had some form of disability. The disabled still suffer forms of legal discrimination. For example, blind persons cannot become teachers or tutors. Although a 1994 law requires that the new public buildings provide access for the disabled, the public transportation system does not make provision for wheelchair access, and subway lines in the Santiago metropolitan area provide facilitated access for the disabled only in some areas. The following article titled, "Government Implementation of the Standard Rules as Seen by Member Organizations of Inclusion International, ILSMH Chile," dated 1997. "Legislation," describes legislation that protects the disabled: The right of persons with disabilities are protected by general legislation. According to the government, the rights of persons with disabilities are protected by a combination of special and general legislation. General legislation applies to persons with different disabilities with respect to education, employment, the right to marry, the right to parenthood, family, political rights, access to court of law, the right to privacy and to property rights. The following benefits are guaranteed by law to persons with disabilities: health and medical care, training, rehabilitation and counselling, financial security, employment, independent living, and participation in decisions affecting themselves. According to the government, the benefit of financial security is not guaranteed by law. There is a newspaper article from the XXXXXXXXXX, dated XXXXXX, 2016, titled, "Blind Teacher Blames Loss of Job Because of her Dog." This newspaper article supports the claimant's testimony of her being terminated from her employment with a Christian radio station called XXXXX, and to quote from that article: Beginning on the XXXXXX 2000, XXXXX (29 years of age) will have to start knocking on doors again in search of new work with her guide dog, a Labrador by the name of 'XXXX' "although", she thinks to herself, "it would be better to become a street vendor so that I wouldn't need to depend on others". Two years ago, the evangelical radio station, "XXXXX", decided to hire this young English teacher who lives in a world without shapes or colours because of congenital damage to her retinas. According to XXXXX, her employers decided that the inconvenience of having a guide dog in the office when weighed against the "needs of the business" justified their withdrawing her opportunity to work. XXXXXXX, who no longer trusts them, wants them to demonstrate to the employment inspectors that there was no other reason other than the inconvenience of having a dog in the office. "In my job as a telephone operator at the radio station, I was overqualified. I am fluent in another language other than my mother tongue; I have never missed a day of work; I was always very punctual, disciplined and respectful," says the teacher. The job inspectors have written evidence of what transpired. Amongst this evidence is a letter in which XXXXXX replies to a missive sent by her employers in which they ask her to take her dog out of the office. Since their solution (of taking the guide dog out of the office) would have caused a serious challenge to XXXXXX, she decided to send her employers a letter suggesting other more mutually workable solutions with XXXXXX offering to cover any of the costs. Sometime later, XXXXXX was notified by mail that her job was terminated. XXXXXX is a labour lawyer representing some disabled people. For her, the issue of discrimination cannot be acknowledged as that (discrimination) just because someone was fired, but also because Chilean society is not prepared to accept people who they feel are other than mainstream ("strange, different or apart from the society"). "When a worker with these characteristics becomes a burden to the business, the employer is evidently obliged to fire the employee, because of lack of financial support from the government or the social infrastructure", emphasized the specialist. In Chile, 70% of the disabled population are prepared and willing to work and only 40% reach that goal. Also your client has a letter of petition written by the claimant to the radio station, specifically addressed to XXXXXXXXXX, and XXXXXXXX, and XXXXXXXXX. In this letter, the claimant responds to concerns that she received from her employer because of having her seeing-eye dog with her at her employment. The claimant provided solutions that she felt would resolve this conflict, including "buying a piece of carpet or rug mat of a colour that goes with the colour of the carpet of the office so as XXXX can lay down without damaging the carpet." She also proposed to be "transferred to another office far from the public, which could be the one used by the donation collectors." Regardless of this constructive petition, the claimant was given a letter of termination from the radio company, dated XXXXXX the XX, 2016, which includes the paragraph: This decision has been made based on the Article 161, section 1 of the Labour Code. This is "needs of the business." Article 162 from the Labour Code establishes that the worker must be given a dismissal notice 30 days in advance. Thus, we are complying with this rule from the Labour Code. The client states this letter of termination very emotionally upset her. She stated she had given several years of her own personal time as a volunteer to help collect money for this Christian radio station, and she believed she was originally hired due to the employer's empathy towards the disabled. She states she felt further saddened when after she had agreed to media interviews in respect to her being fired from this position that she was being shunned from people that had previously been her friends in her Christian community. She states that her efforts to obtain human rights for the visually impaired were considered inappropriate by some of her evangelical Christian friends. She states some of these friends believe it was both inappropriate and not Christian to be making such complaints. The client seems credible in her story in respect to seeking advice from lawyers at human rights organizations. She has made submissions to the National Consumer Services, and she has also made formal complaints in respect to not being allowed access to public transportation while she is the company of her seeing-eye dog. The client has had considerable difficulty in obtaining employment and therefore has limited resources to financially support herself. She also claims that she would not be successful in a further application for a disability pension. This leads to the assessment of the claimant's claiming to have so many years of accumulation of discrimination that it amounts to persecution. Discrimination versus Persecution Where measures of discrimination are in themselves not of a serious character, they may nevertheless give rise to a reasonable fear of persecution if they produce in the mind of the person concerned a feeling of apprehension and insecurity as regards his future existence. Whether or not such measures of discrimination in themselves amount to persecution must be determined in the light of all the circumstances. A claim to fear of persecution will of course be stronger when a person has been a victim of a number of discriminatory measures of this type and where there is thus a cumulative element involved. The claimant has given examples of discrimination for a period of 24 years from 1992 to the year 2016. She has given examples of discrimination in respect to attempting to obtain transportation, either by bus or by taxi, when she is in the company of her seeing-eye dog. She has given many examples of difficulties in obtaining employment due to being visually impaired, and she also gave examples of difficulties in obtaining higher education. At the same time, in her PIF, she states she received a XXXXX degree as English as a second language which she attended university during 2005 to 2009 to obtain. Also, she has an extensive work history with four different positions as XXXXXX English as a second language in Santiago. Her most recent employment in Santiago was the two-year position with the Christian radio station, where she was a telephone operator and occasionally a host of the radio program