Ottawa, Ontario, April 2, 2007 — The Honourable Diane Finley, Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, today announced the designations of Ken Sandhu as Deputy Chair of the Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB), and Lois Figg as the IRB Assistant Deputy.
Ken Sandhu (Montreal) was first appointed to the IRB on June 21, 2004. He was designated Deputy Chairperson of the Refugee Protection Division of the IRB on March 5, 2007. Prior to his appointment to the IRB, he was the Acting Chair of the Ontario Board of Parole. He was also Regional Director of Community Corrections with the Ministry of Public Safety and Correctional Services of the Ontario Government, and has taught criminology at the University of Guelph as a sessional lecturer. Mr. Sandhu is a past President of the Canadian Criminal Justice Association and past President of the Ontario Association of Corrections and Criminology. In 2001, he was awarded the Medal of Honour by the Society of Ontario Adjudicators and Regulators for his outstanding contribution to the administrative justice system of Ontario and, in 2002, the Association of Paroling Authorities International awarded him the Vincent O'Leary award for his contribution to the field of parole. He has a Bachelor of Arts (honours) in Political Science and Sociology from the University of Guelph and a Masters in Criminology from York University.
Lois Figg (Toronto) has been a member of the IRB since 2000. She was appointed acting Assistant Deputy Chair of the Immigration Appeal Division in Toronto in May 2005. Before joining the IRB, she worked as a Human Rights Officer at the Ontario Human Rights Commission and an Appeal Counsellor at the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. She holds a Bachelor of Arts (honours) in History from the University of Western Ontario, a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Windsor, and a Masters of Laws from the Osgoode Hall Law School of York University. She has been a member of the Law Society of Upper Canada since 1988 and was elected Vice-President of the International Association of Refugee Law Judges in 2006.
Created in 1989, the IRB determines refugee protection claims made in Canada, hears immigration appeals, and conducts admissibility hearings and detention reviews.
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For further information (media only), please contact:
Philippe Mailhot
Press Secretary
Minister’s Office
Citizenship and Immigration Canada
613-954-1064
Marina Wilson
Spokesperson, Media Relations
Communications Branch
Citizenship and Immigration Canada
613-952-1650
