CIMM - Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada

Key Messages

• I am aware of the media reports raising issues about the quality of decision-making at the Immigration and Refugee Board. The Board is deeply concerned and takes matters of this nature seriously.
• The adjudicators in question have been removed from presiding over any hearings, and code of conduct reviews have been initiated.
• The Board is also taking a number of immediate steps to address the issues raised, including:
  • implementing additional mandatory training for all refugee adjudicators on gender violence;
  • establishing a dedicated team with specialized training relating to gender-related claims; and
  • strengthening the monitoring of hearings to identify training needs.

Supplementary Messages

• The Board has recently strengthened its public complaints process by establishing an Office of Integrity, which reports directly to the Chairperson.
• The Board is also undertaking a review of the member complaint process to identify ways that it can be further strengthened.

Processing Times

• To help address the rising intake of refugee claims, the Government made substantial investments of $281M in Budgets 2018 and 2019, representing the largest investment in the Board’s history.
• This funding provides for an additional 700 decision-makers and support staff.
• Coupled with increased productivity improvement measures, such as strategically managing its inventory, the Board was able to finalize the largest number of claims since the refugee determination system was reformed in 2012.
• This year, it has finalized approximately 45,000 claims and 11,000 appeals, which has materially slowed the growth of the backlog and as such, the average wait time from where they would otherwise be.

Supporting Facts And Figures

Delays in Processing

• The Immigration and Refugee Board has significantly increased its finalizations this year. It has finalized approximately 45,000 claims and 11,000 appeals, which has materially slowed the growth of the backlog and as such, the average wait time from where they would otherwise be.
• As of January 2020, the average expected wait time is approximately 22 months for refugee claims, and 8 months for refugee appeals. Without additional funding, wait times would be reaching approximately 6 years for refugee claims by March 2021.
• The Immigration and Refugee Board has also committed to processing 50% of its refugee claims within 12 months, appeals within 90 days, and to finalize 80% of immigration appeals within 12 months.
• The Immigration and Refugee Board continues to meet the intake for Detention Reviews and Admissibility Hearings.

The following table includes the number of asylum claims referred to and finalized by the Immigration and Refugee Board, and claims pending as of December 31 of the past 5 years

Data from the IRB website: https://www.irb-cisr.gc.ca/en/statistics/protection/Pages/RPDStat2015.aspx

Background

Quality of Decisions:

• The Immigration and Refugee Board continues to build on its existing quality assurance framework, which begins with a merit-based recruitment regime, supported by training for new members and ongoing professional development, mentoring, performance management, quality reviews, and recourse at higher courts.
• The Immigration and Refugee Board is undertaking additional steps to build on this by:
  • Strengthening its monitoring of hearings to identify training needs and strengthening performance management.
  • Undertaking a third-party review of its recently-improved complaints process.
  • Ensuring mandatory training for refugee decision-makers on gender-related issues for claims involving violence against women.
  • Creating adjudicative quality centers to better monitor trends to identify training needs.
• All members, whether Governor-in-Council or Public Service employees, are accountable to the Chairperson for adhering to the Immigration and Refugee Board’s Code of Conduct for members, recently updated in 2019, which sets out their responsibilities and obligations.