IRCC Minister Transition Binder 2019: Immigration and Refugee Board

Introduction

• The Immigration and Refugee Board is an independent administrative tribunal with four divisions.
  • Refugee Protection Division: Hears and decides claims for refugee protection made in Canada
  • Refugee Appeal Division: Decides appeals from Refugee Protection Division decisions to allow or reject refugee protection claims
  • Immigration Division: Conducts admissibility hearings and detention reviews for foreign nationals or permanent residents
  • Immigration Appeal Division: Hears appeals on immigration-related matters, such as sponsorship applications and removal orders
• Only the Refugee Protection Division and Immigration Division (for admissibility hearings) make first-instance decisions. All other divisions (including the Immigration Division for detention reviews) review decisions made by the Government or by the Immigration and Refugee Board itself.
• The Immigration and Refugee Board’s Budget (2019-2020) is $225M with 1,600 full-time equivalents (incl. Budget 2019).
• The Immigration and Refugee Board’s four divisions have a combined funded decision-maker complement of approximately 400 in 2019-2020:
  • Staffed by public servants:
    • Refugee Protection Division
    • Immigration Division
  • Staffed by Governor in Council appointees
    • Refugee Appeal Division
    • Immigration Appeal Division
• Members appointed by the Governor in Council are named by the Governor General on advice from Cabinet.
• The Minister of IRCC approves these appointments. Those appointed hold office for a renewable term of up to seven years.
• The Immigration and Refugee Board estimates that prior to the House rising in June 2020, the Refugee Appeal Division and the Immigration Appeal Division will require 40.5 Governor in Council appointments or reappointments, of which 17 are required before the end of December 2019.

Area Overview

• The Immigration and Refugee Board is part of the executive branch of the Government and the Minister is ultimately accountable for its effective functioning.
• The Board reports to Parliament through the Minister.
• The Board is led by a Governor in Council-appointed Chairperson who is Deputy Head - Chairperson (Richard Wex).
  The chairperson:
  • is a member of each division
  • may propose rules about how all divisions operate
  • acts as Chief Executive Officer and Chief Accounting Officer (under the Financial Administration Act)
  • reports to Parliament through the Minister of IRCC
• Four deputy chairpersons responsible for each division, and an executive director responsible for overall administration, report to the Chairperson.
• As an administrative tribunal, the Immigration and Refugee Board operates with institutional independence.
  • Immigration and Refugee Board:
    • Members are independent in adjudicating claims and rendering decisions
  • IRCC:
    • Minister may issue high-level direction to the Chairperson (e.g., communicating Government priorities)
    • Direction should not influence the outcome in any particular decision
• To support horizontal coordination, the Immigration and Refugee Board Chairperson is a permanent member of the Deputy Minister-level Asylum System Management Board.

Refugee Protection Division

Role

• Determine whether a claimant meets the definition of a Convention refugee or person in need of protection under Immigration and Refugee Protection Act.
• Hear applications for cessation (conditions for protection have ceased) or vacation of refugee protection (misrepresentation/fraud).

Cost of Operations

• $87.5M

Selected Priorities from the Departmental Plan

• Enhance operational coordination with IRCC and the Canada Border Services Agency to improve information sharing and to re-engineer claim intake processes.
• Establish a national productivity model and operational plan to better manage and balance decision-makers’ workload across the organization.
• Establish a national triage system to optimize scheduling and more effectively allocate resources based on case profiles and complexity.
• Adopt modern digital tools, such as digitized case files, standardized electronic forms and simple electronic processes, to improve the experience for all parties, including those appearing before the Board and their counsel.

Refugee Appeal Division

Role

• Consider appeals against decisions of the Refugee Protection Division to allow or reject claims for refugee protection.
• Decide whether to confirm or change the Refugee Protection Division’s decision, and whether to send claims back to the Refugee Protection Division to be heard again.

Cost of Operations

• $42.1M

Selected Priorities from the Departmental Plan

• Promote adjudicative consistency and clarify areas of refugee law through such means as the pursuit of adjudicative strategies.
• Establish a national productivity model and operational plan to better manage and balance decision-makers’ workload across the organization.
• Establish a national triage system to optimize scheduling and more effectively allocate resources based on case profiles and complexity.
• Continue to work with Government on timely appointments and reappointments of Governor in Council members to maintain full complement of Refugee Appeal Division decision-makers.

Immigration Division

Role

• Conduct admissibility hearings for foreign nationals or permanent residents believed to be inadmissible to, or removable from, Canada under the law.
• Conduct detention reviews of foreign nationals or permanent residents detained by Canada Border Services Agency under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act.

Cost of Operations

• $12.2M

Selected Priorities from the Departmental Plan

• Developing and implementing a rigorous quality assurance and training program for admissibility hearings and detention reviews, including a revised Chairperson’s Guideline on Detention, as well as pursuing measures to ensure that detained individuals appearing before the Division have access to the information and support required for a fair hearing.
• Promoting the use of active adjudication to ensure that hearings are conducted efficiently and that they meet high quality standards.

Immigration Appeal Division

Role

• Consider appeals on immigration-related matters.
• This includes sponsorship appeals, removal order appeals, ministerial appeals (i.e., to challenge determination of admissibility by the Immigration Division), and residency obligation appeals (i.e., for those who fail to meet the permanent resident physical presence requirement).

Cost of Operations

• $20.2M

Selected Priorities from the Departmental Plan

• Review service standards for immigration appeal hearings with a view to reducing wait times for appellants.
• Continued focus on early resolution and pre-hearing conferences to ensure that hearing time is used to maximum effect.
• Continue to work with the Government on timely appointments and reappointments of Governor in Council members to maintain full complement of Immigration Appeal Division decision-makers.

Current State of Play

Budget 2019

• The Immigration and Refugee Board received $207.7M over two years (beginning 2019-2020) to support increased processing capacity, building on Budget 2018 investments of $74M over two years (beginning in 2018-2019).
• Temporary funding provides the Immigration and Refugee Board with an additional 700 full-time equivalents to gradually increase annual finalization capacity to 50,000 claims and 13,500 appeals by 2020-2021.

Challenges

• Intake in the asylum system continues to exceed funded capacity (targets: 40,700 cases in 2019-2020 and 50,000 in 2020-2021) and is likely [Redacted].
• Temporary funding has and will continue to slow the growth of the backlog, which at the end of September 2019 reached 82,200 refugee claims (Refugee Protection Division) and 10,400 appeals (Refugee Appeal Division), while keeping wait times for refugee protection claims below 24 months until the end of 2020-2021.
• The Immigration and Refugee Board continues to implement a significant growth and transformation agenda to maximize temporary funding and optimize triaging and scheduling of claims and appeals; however, temporary funding is planned to sunset in 2020-2021.
• Budget 2019 funding and efficiency measures ease pressure, but finalizations expected to remain below annual intake

Key Takeaways

• The Immigration and Refugee Board is pursuing a significant growth and transformation agenda, enabling it to meet and exceed performance expectations.
• Budget 2019 funding will temporarily increase capacity in the coming years, but despite recent productivity gains, the Board continues to operate in an environment of insufficient capacity to meet intake. [Redacted]
• Temporary resources are slowing the growth of the backlog at the Refugee Protection Division; however, they are insufficient to address the backlog. [Redacted]
• [Redacted]
• Through the Asylum System Management Board, the Immigration and Refugee Board, IRCC and the Canada Border Services Agency have adopted a whole-of-system approach to manage the asylum system, while maintaining the institutional independence of the Board.
• [Redacted]