IRCC Minister Transition Binder 2025-05

The Immigration and Refugee Board: An Overview

Context

The Immigration and Refugee Board adjudicated over 102,000 immigration and refugee decisions in FY2024/25. This represents a 29% increase over the previous year. With three of four divisions keeping pace with intake, the Refugee Protection Division has been managing historically high level of claim intake which was recently levelling off. Continuing high intake remains significant risk and has been a driving impetus for internal transformation at the IRB.

Background

• The Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (IRB) is the country's largest administrative tribunal and reports to Parliament through the Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship.
• Created by an Act of Parliament in 1989, the IRB must exercise its decision-making authority independently, in a manner that is fair, transparent, efficient, and in accordance with the rules of natural justice.
• The primary statutory framework governing the IRB and defining the basic features of its organizational structure is the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA), which became law in 2002 and was substantively reformed in 2012. The majority of decisions made by the IRB can be appealed to the Federal Court where a significant amount of jurisprudence has been established.

Impacts

• The IRB is critical to the fair and efficient management of immigration and refugee cases, providing unbiased and arm's length decision-making on questions of fact and law that attract high Charter interests.
• The tribunal provides opportunity for the Minister to be a party to proceedings and equally provides participants fair and accessible proceedings.
• Key stakeholders are the Canadian Bar Association, regulated immigration consultants and provincial/territorial Legal Aid Societies and refugee advocacy organizations: UNHCR; the Canadian Council for Refugees, the Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers and immigrant serving NGOs.

Mandate

• The IRB has four divisions: the Refugee Protection Division, the Refugee Appeal Division, the Immigration Division, and the Immigration Appeal Division.

Refugee Protection Division

• The Refugee Protection Division (RPD) makes determinations of whether a claimant meets the definition of a refugee under the 1951 United Nations Refugee Convention (i.e. due to a fear of persecution by reason of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group or political opinion) or a person in need of protection (i.e. because they face torture, a risk to life or risk of cruel and unusual treatment or punishment) under the IRPA.
• Hearings are non-adversarial unless the Minister (IRCC or Public Safety) is intervening and is represented to present relevant information that may be contrary to the claim.
• Cases do not proceed to hearing or decision without having first received a Front-End Security Screening (FESS).

Refugee Appeal Division

• The Refugee Appeal Division considers appeals against decisions of the RPD to allow or reject claims for refugee protection.
• The Minister (IRCC or Public Safety) may appeal a refugee protection decision or intervene in an appeal. Minister's appeals make up 2% of appeals received.

Immigration Division

• The Immigration Division conducts hearings on immigration-related matters. These include:
  • Admissibility hearings: Where the CBSA believes that a permanent resident or foreign national is inadmissible to, and removable from Canada on enumerated grounds, including security; human rights or international violations; criminality; and misrepresentation.
  • Detention reviews: When CBSA detains a person who is inadmissible to Canada; is a danger to the public; is unlikely to appear for immigration processes; or in cases where a foreign national is unable to establish their identity. The law places the onus on the Minister's counsel to demonstrate that there are reasons for continued detention.

Immigration Appeal Division

• Immigration Appeal Division (IAD) hears appeals on immigration-related matters. These include:
  • Sponsorship appeals: Appeals of family class sponsorship applications refused by IRCC.
  • Removal order appeals: Appeals of removal orders issued by the Immigration Division or by the Minister to permanent residents, protected persons, and holders of permanent resident visas.
  • Residency obligation appeals: Appeals by permanent residents outside of Canada who have been found by IRCC not to have fulfilled their residency obligation.
  • Minister's appeals: Appeals by the Minister of Public Safety of decisions where the Immigration Division found a person not inadmissible.

IRB's Footprint

• Geographically, IRB operations are managed across three regions: Western, Central and Eastern. The IRB has offices in five cities: Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal, with itinerant sites in Edmonton and Winnipeg. The IRB's National Headquarters are in Ottawa.

Recent Developments

• The overall IRB funding is being reduced by $7.3M this fiscal year and by a further $37M in FY26/27. In this context, IRB is focused on maximizing finalizations by focusing on productivity and streamlining service delivery.

Upcoming Milestones

• The IRB will be launching regulatory consultations in 2025 to update and align tribunal rules with the online service delivery model and to improve efficiency in processing.