The immigration judge!

Ji Hye Kim enters court February 23, 2010 where she testified in the breach-oftrial of former councillor Steve Ellis, right. As an immigration juddge he allegedly offered to approve her refugee claim in exchange for sex. (Peter Small/Pawel Dwulit - Toronto Star File Photo)



Video shows refugee judge's secret offer
A trial sees the tape of an immigration adjudicator making a suggestive offer to help woman stay in Canada

Published Wednesday February 24, 2010
Peter Small

Courts Bureau A former South Korean refugee claimant says an immigration judge left her with what she felt was a stark choice: have sex with him or lose her chance to stay in Canada.

"I didn't know what to do," Ji Hye Kim testified Tuesday.

The slim 29-year-old woman described a private meeting requested by immigration adjudicator Steve Ellis, at a Starbucks patio on Bloor St. near Bathurst St. on Sept. 26, 2006.

During the meeting to discuss her refugee claim, Kim secretly carried a tape recorder with a microphone hidden under her shirt. Her boyfriend sat in a car nearby, and videotaped the meeting.

Technicians later synchronized the video and audio, and the results were played in Ontario Superior Court on Tuesday. Ellis, 50, a Toronto city councillor for Ward 9 from 1991 to 1997, is on trial for breach of trust and seeking a bribe.

He was the immigration judge deciding her claim and, in the video, he tells Kim that he had initially rejected it, as with most refugee applications from South Korea, but was now inclined to approve it.

"I've been trying to find, trying to find a way to say yes for you," he tells her in the video. "If I say no to you, I won't be able to sleep."

Ellis tells her he has never met privately with a claimant before.

"I really want to be friends with you and I really want you to teach me Korean," he says.

He confesses that: "I'm not supposed to do this. So don't tell your lawyer. Don't tell nobody. We just became friends afterward," he says.

Kim testified Tuesday that when Ellis said he wanted to be friends, it made her uncomfortable. She knew her future in Canada lay in his hands, she said.

In the video, Ellis remarks on how pretty she looks in a photo attached to her refugee application, which he has brought along.

"When I saw that I thought you were a model," he says, mentioning that he is involved in the fashion industry.

He promises her he will do what he can to approve her refugee claim, and sets another date for a meeting, when "we'll have a big celebration."

He then asks if she has a boyfriend. "Actually I do," she says.

"That's okay. You know what, I've got a wife too," Ellis replies. "It's a terrible marriage and I, I'm staying with her for the kids."

He then reveals that he has a Filipina girlfriend, but adds that he's probably going to break up with her.

"I want to be good friends with you and I know you've got a boyfriend. I've got a wife, so I mean, if we do things together on the side, that's okay. That's fine," he says. "Don't worry, I'm not going to be demanding. I'm not gonna ask you to move in with me or anything like that ... I'm not going to fall in love with you, don't worry about that."

Kim testified that when Ellis told her he didn't want to fall in love with her, she interpreted that to mean that he wanted a "physical relationship."

The video shows Ellis warning her not to tell her boyfriend about their meeting, because if she breaks up with him he might try to make trouble. "He'll say ... `She's f---ing him. That's why he said yes," Ellis admonishes.

If it comes out that "I did this for improper reasons, then you're screwed, we're both screwed. I'm in big trouble and, you know, your status is gone," Ellis says.

As their meeting winds down Ellis tells her he really wants to do things with her. "I know you've got a boyfriend ... but you know once in a while I want to get together with you ..."

Kim testified that as they parted he kissed her on her cheek.

The trial continues Wednesday.