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'I Simply Do Not Believe...': A Case Study Of Credibility Determinations In Canadian Refugee Adjudication, Sean Rehaag

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Refugee determinations often turn on a single question: Is the refugee claimant telling the truth? While there are other factors that refugee adjudicators must consider, determining whether the claimant's story is credible remains central to virtually all refugee hearings. In light of the key role credibility assessments play in refugee determinations, scholars are paying increasingly more attention to how refugee adjudicators assess credibility.

This article contributes to the growing body of research on this subject by examining the full caseload of one refugee adjudicator at Canada's Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB) over a three-year period. That adjudicator, David McBean, denied …