IRCC, Deputy Minister, Transition Binder, 2024 - Overview: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada

Deputy Minister Briefing

Introduction

The Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (the Board or IRB) is Canada’s largest independent administrative tribunal with four tribunals (“divisions”).
Established in 1989 with a mandate to resolve a range of refugee and immigration cases fairly, efficiently and in accordance with the law.

Hears and decides claims for refugee protection made in Canada

Conducts admissibility hearings and detention reviews for foreign nationals or permanent residents.

Decides appeals from Refugee Protection Division decisions to allow or reject refugee protection claims.

Hears appeals on immigration-related matters, such as sponsorship applications and removal orders.

The Refugee Protection Division and the Immigration Division (for admissibility hearings) make first-instance decisions; the other two divisions hear appeals of decisions made by the Government or by the IRB itself.
The IRB’s budget (2024-2025) is approximately $335M and it has close to 2,500 full-time equivalent (FTE) employees.
The IRB’s four divisions have a funded complement of over 600 adjudicative decision-makers (“members”) in 2024-2025:

Refugee Appeal Division (RAD)
Immigration Appeal Division (IAD)
Members appointed by the Governor-in-Council are recommended by the Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) to Cabinet following a merit-based assessment process and named by the Governor General based on advice from Cabinet.
Initial appointments are usually three years in length. Reappointments typically vary from two to five years in length and are neither automatic nor guaranteed.

The Board is an independent administrative tribunal characterized by the following:
- Both individual decision-maker (“adjudicative”) independence and a degree of institutional independence, different than a line department such as IRCC
- The IRB remains a part of the executive branch for which the IRCC Minister is ultimately politically accountable and works closely on strategic issues with IRCC/Canada Border Services Agency through a Deputy Minister-level Asylum System Management Board
The IRB is led by a Governor-in-Council-appointed Chairperson who:

… is a member of each division
… is responsible for determining the schedule and assignment of cases at the IRB and may propose rules about how all divisions operate (Immigration and Refugee Protection Act)
… reports to Parliament through the Minister of IRCC
… is a Deputy Head and acts as Chief Executive Officer and Chief Accounting Officer for the IRB (Financial Administration Act)
Deputy Chairpersons are responsible for each division, as well as an Executive Director and Chief Financial Officer responsible for overall internal administration.

Given projected intake numbers, IRCC/IRB collaboration will be critical on:

Implementing more efficient and streamlined processes, while ensuring efficiency gains in one part of the system do not create inefficiencies in others.
Enhancing collaboration on digital initiatives where appropriate, ensuring that we leverage these initiatives to their full potential.
Sharing information about new initiatives that impact each other.

2024-05-24